So We're Besties
by pseudonymitous
Summary: Auggie/Annie stories, generally one-shots that are not related unless explicitly stated. Fluff, angst, character development. Not all are romantic. Some of the chapters feature Annie and Auggie as parents, or spotlights on their families. Please R&R, or request a plot! Obv., I don't own any of this stuff. (Latest ch: 38 "A Very Glencoe Christmas Part 5")
1. Under the Weather

Annie came home from Italy a mess. Her Italian wasn't spectacular, one of a handful of languages she insisted still needed work. She dedicated her first night home to sleeping and pampering. It was harder doing these things alone, without Danielle. She wasn't the girliest girl, but she missed having someone who didn't mind watching "Revenge" with her while she colored her roots.

As soon as her plane touched down, she had Auggie in her ear.

"Welcome home, Agent Walker," he said smoothly as she rounded the corner to baggage claim.

"Good to be back," she said, voice gravelly from her six hour plane "nap." She was the worst at being an alert traveller. "Did I even check a bag? I don't remember..."

"You had a full closet at the safe house," Auggie reminded her gently. "No need for bags."

"Oh yeah!" That was a plus when it came to low-risk undercover operations. Sometimes they knew exactly who would be there and when. The Italians had planned accordingly. "I forgot I wore generic pantsuits all week."

"I once heard a story of a spy who turned up in Croatia expecting a stocked safe house and wound up wearing duty-free sweatpants for six days," Auggie quipped. "Are we sure we're complaining?"

"Not at all."

"You sure you're okay? Your voice is funny."

"I'm just tired," she yawned. "I have a little bit of a tickle."

"Uh-oh, Wonder Woman. Are we getting sick?"

"I am not getting sick," she attempted, punctuating her sentence with a cough. "I'm just jet lagged."

"Just jet lagged?" his voice was incredulous. "Who are you and what have you done with Annie Walker?"

Annie laughed and crawled into a cab. "Do I need to come in for a debrief?"

"Go home and get some rest," Auggie said. "We'll deal with the debrief tomorrow."

...

Annie didn't even make it all the way upstairs. She lay on the sofa for a long time, too sore and tired to move, but too sore and tired to fall asleep. Some horrible reality show was on, so she watched that for awhile. It faded into another reality show, this time about a group of pretentious young realtors. Then something new about a woman who is a pregnancy consultant?

After an endless number of reality programs, there was a tapping from outside. "WALKER? YOU HOME?"

She dragged herself to the door and opened it to find Auggie, with a brown grocery bag.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, leading him in. "And what's in the bag?"

"Just a few things for your quote-unquote 'jet lag,'" he set the bag on the counter and winked in her direction. "You look awful, by the way."

She retrieved a cup of soup and half a sandwich from the bag, along with a bottle of NyQuil, a tin of tea, and a box of tissues.

"That's so sweet, but I'm fi-" she broke down coughing again.

Auggie's brow furrowed in concern. "Do you have a thermometer?"

"Probably not. Danielle took most of that stuff with her."

Auggie held out his hand. "Let me feel your forehead."

Annie rolled her eyes. "Seriously?"

Auggie nodded, extending his hand a bit further. She took it and moved it up to her forehead. Once it was there, he flipped it a couple times, then moved down to her cheeks. "You are burning up," he said. "Grab the bag and let's go to the couch."

"Auggie, I'm really okay. If this is a bug, I don't want to give it to you," she tried to protest, but she lacked the energy. He took her hand and she walked him over the sofa.

Once she set the bag down on the coffee table, he dug in, retrieving the soup and a spoon. "This will help your throat. Best chicken soup in town."

She took them, reluctantly sipping the soup. He slipped the neck pillow under her head and grabbed the afghan from the back of the couch, spreading it so it covered both their laps. He snuggled up next to her.

"What are we watching?" he asked, nose wrinkled.

"It's a bunch of women who live in New Jersey I guess," Annie said. "Danielle loves this show. I guess a bunch of them are related but they all hate each other."

"They all sound the same," Auggie commented through a mouthful of sandwich. "Do they realize how frustrating this is to their visually impaired viewers?"

"If it makes you feel any better, they all look pretty similar," Annie shrugged. "The only 'blind' in their vocabulary is probably followed by the words 'date' or 'judging.'"

After awhile, under the influence of cold medicine, Annie dozed off. When she woke, Auggie was handing her a mug.

"You made tea?" she asked, taking a sip. "How?"

Auggie paused, pressing his lips together in search of the proper wording. "Trial and error."

"Did you break anything?"

He laughed. "No. But I did touch every single thing in every single cabinet, in search of mugs, so you might want to give it all a quick rinse tomorrow. How's it taste? And be honest."

"It could use honey," she managed. Her throat was killing her.

"Honey. Got it."

"In the cabinet directly left of the stove vent," she supplied. "On the far right of the bottom shelf."

He nodded and went back to the kitchen. She was pretty out of it, but the gesture wasn't lost on her. Auggie Anderson was one of, if not the best, person she knew. She would have to get him back for this one day.


	2. The Present

From the moment Parker came into his life, Auggie had been taken with a keen sense of being half-alive. It was better than the usual loneliness, the meaningless sex, the quiet nights at home, but it wasn't fulfillment either. At first he thought it was the circumstances. They'd met at Billy's birthday-slash-memorial, an event he wished had been unique. But as a soldier, particularly one invalided home, it wasn't. He was invited to, he thought, probably a dozen "celebrations of life" a year. For guys he met in boot camp. Guys he'd been briefly stationed with. Guys who'd made it home in one piece only to blow their own heads off when they realized it wasn't so easy to adjust to civilian life. But he'd gone to Billy's. He loved Billy. Billy was the kind of person who made the battlefield feel more like home.

When Auggie met Parker, he didn't know what she looked like. He only knew what Billy had told him about her. Meeting her forced him to remember Billy, vividly. Remember their conversations, introductions, letters from home. A few times when they swapped stories about their families. He remembered, ever so faintly, Billy showing him a family photo, but as with most visual memories, Auggie couldn't recall a single face in it.

Talking to Parker made Auggie remember his best friend. Someone he'd been through so much with. She could talk about Billy like no one else in his life could because she knew him like no one else did. But there was a part of her that made Auggie sad. He'd tried to push it away at the beginning of the relationship, and he had a feeling she did, too.

See, Billy was a part of a previous life. It wasn't something Auggie could admit to himself at the time, but Billy left Auggie with his eyesight. All of his adaptation, his new friends, his humility, his job- his whole life in the dark existed on a separate, parallel timeline, to the times before it. The life he had when he knew Billy was one full of colors and photos and travel. It didn't require a cane or an endless number of cabs home or Braille clothing tags. When Auggie held Parker, he felt like he was grasping at that life. He didn't want to show her his adaptive technology or tell her about his job. He didn't want her to know him as that guy. Didn't want her help. What he really wanted was to be the guy he was before.

She was his last bridge.

The first time she broke up with him, as he helped her pack for Eritrea, he now realized, wasn't about distance. It was about the fact that Parker was living in a different world. And she wanted to keep living there. Loving Auggie meant eventually having to adapt. Auggie's denial made her uncomfortable. His adaptation made her uncomfortable. The fact that he was blind, he hated to realize, made her uncomfortable. But like him, she wanted a link. She missed her brother. She knew Auggie knew him like no one else and she stayed because she'd found someone who connected her to something old. But he was blind. From the blast that killed her brother. That part of him kept her from connecting to the past all the way, too.

So there they both were, grasping at straws designed to look like love. Groping endlessly for the mist that was the past, a fruitless attempt that would never end in romance or happiness. An attempt that could only end in hurt.

When she said she didn't even know him anymore, she meant it. He hadn't shown her anything. He hadn't let her see that side of his life because it meant admitting it was permanent. It meant admitting he could never go back.

When she said she missed him, she didn't mean him. She meant Billy. She missed knowing someone who knew him like she did.

When she left him, she wasn't leaving a loving relationship. She was leaving carnage. She was leaving reminders. She was done abusing herself by being with him. Because she was a broken person, too.

And with her, he was only half-alive, not moving forward but infuriatingly incapable of moving backward.

There was only one woman he'd met who made him feel like moving forward. But tonight, she wasn't here and he was alone, in an empty apartment full of things he'd bought when he thought Parker was moving in. So he poured himself another shot of Patron and proposed a toast to the thin air.

To the present.

To the present.

To the present.


	3. The Rocky Relationship Horror Show

Annie and Auggie sat at Allen's, splitting a pitcher.

"How is it you've never been married?" she asked, out of the blue.

He choked on his beer. "Pardon?"

"I mean, beyond Parker, before Parker, how are you perpetually single?"

"Well, it helps that I'm in the CIA," he said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "Where is this coming from?"

"I was just thinking about it," she said.

"Why, have you been married?"

"No," she laughed. "No, no, no."

"And why not?"

She took a long sip. "Well, it helps that I have no sense of commitment or roots."

"But you're always dating somebody," he commented.

"Not right now."

"But someone's always interested and you always seem to be interested back."

"That's not true!" she laughed.

"Okay, let's take roll call. There was Ben-"

"He was an exception. He turned out to be the literal butt crack of humanity."

"Okay and then there was Jai-"

"Never dated."

"He met your family."

"Never dated."

"And then there was that guy... Civilian... What was his name? Brad? Eddie? Rocky?"

"Dr. Scott."

"Dammit Janet, I was just about to guess that."

"You were not."

"My next guess was actually going to be Frank-N-Furter."

"Adorable, really."

"Who came after him? Oh, Eyal."

"Eyal did not 'come after' him. You're mixing up guys I date and guys I manipulate for intel."

"You manipulated Eyal for intel?"

"Can we segue over to Auggie's enormous black book, please?"

"It's only enormous because Braille books are thicker."

"Even if it was just in large print, I don't think it'd even fit in my car."

"Again, we're confusing dating with sex."

"We were talking about manipulating people for intel. I would say Liza Hearn counts as a relationship even though that's all it was, wouldn't you agree?"

"Who said that was all it was?"

"You, under threat of perjury."

"Fine, I did not perjure myself. She was into weird stuff."

"Eyal once found a bondage suit in a safe house. The first time I met him."

"He was so coming onto you. What a sleaze."

"Hey, you love Eyal."

"I really do."

"Okay and Natasha," Annie continued.

Auggie grimaced. "She was before we met, though."

"No more before than Ben Mercer and anyway, why does it matter when we met?"

Auggie blushed. "Good point. Can we move on to Simon Fischer?"

"Do we have to?"

"Not if you agree to skip analyzing Parker."

"I'll drink to that."

They sipped their beer for a moment. "What were we originally talking about?"

Annie sighed. "How we're both completely fated to die alone."

Auggie raised his glass with a grin. "Cheers."

She clinked hers against his. "Cheers."


	4. All Things

Auggie had been fast asleep, for the first time in weeks, when the phone rang.

"AN-NIE WALK-ER," it blared from his bureau across the room. "AN-NIE WALK-ER."

He picked himself up, somehow made it across the room before the ringing stopped. "Hello?"

Her voice was just barely a hoarse whisper. "Are you up?"

He was now. "Yeah, what's going on?"

"It's... It's stupid," her voice trembled, fading in and out as if she were moving away from the phone. "Sorry go back to sleep."

"Annie," his voice was firm. "Are you in trouble?"

She emitted a shaky sigh that created a certain degree of static. The whole call sounded as if it were coming from inside a fish tank. "I'm just a little bit..." She exhaled again, and inhaled sharply, fighting back a sob. "I'm kind of near your apartment."

He perked up with the jolt of a thousand cups of coffee. "Are you driving?"

"Yeah," she said, a little clearer now.

"Come up when you get here."

He kept her on the phone as he found a shirt and some pants He heard the car park, the ding-ding-ding as she put on the parking brake and pulled the key out of the ignition, the door open and slam. He stayed on the phone until she arrived at the door. She wasn't crying, but she was a little bit shaky.

"I just started driving," she said quietly. "I had... just a really bad dream and the next thing I know I was a block away from your house."

Auggie led her over to the sofa and sat down. "What kind of dream?"

"It's stupid," she dismissed.

"Lena?"

She sniffed, fighting back tears. "It's _still _happening. And I don't know what to do to stop it."

Auggie reached out to embrace her, stroking her hair as she shook in his arms. "Hey, hey, hey... Shhh, it's all right."

"I know she can't hurt me anymore," Annie said. Auggie wondered if they were tears of fear or anger. "I know she's dead and yet, I can't stop having these _stupid_ nightmares."

Annie was such a rock. She held herself to this standard, the belief she had to be all things to all people. She wanted to be strong for everyone. A reliable handler, a genuine confidant, a trustworthy agent, an ambitious businesswoman, a loyal friend, an attentive aunt, a loving sister, a caring girlfriend, a patriotic citizen, a wealth of information, a good samaritan- it was too much for any one person.

Tonight she was none of those things, but she'd chosen him. She was breaking down, and her search for solace led her to him. Auggie was overwhelmed with the desire to hold her close and tell her it would all be okay. He wanted to be able to say that he would never let her go or let her down. But it was a tall order. So he did the best he could. He wanted so badly in this moment to show her that everyone breaks down. She'd shown him that, in Barcelona, when he'd been weak, and he was forever indebted to her for that.

He cleared his throat, forcing the words at first. "You know, after I got back from Iraq, I had these... night terrors. I would be in the Humvee, and everything would be fine, and then it would all start to go wrong. And I could see everything, hidden weapons and snipers and things I couldn't even see during the actual mission, but I was stuck. Everything was exploding all around me, bright and vivid, and I knew what I had to do, but I couldn't carry out my orders, because my feet wouldn't move. They always ended the same way." He winced at the memory. "The blast would go off, and everyone would yell my name. Every man in my unit, everyone who died, everyone just yelling for me to please help them. And then I woke up in the dark. It would take me the longest time to orient myself and figure out where I was. What was going on. And just like that, any amount of rehab or work I'd done in the time since the blast itself, it was like it had been completely deprogrammed. It didn't matter that I'd done all this adaptive training, it was like learning about the accident all over again."

Annie was very quiet. Her breathing slowed somewhat. He tightened his grip on her.

"Did they go away?" she asked finally.

"Eventually. It didn't take as long as it took some of the others. I never had the waking nightmares. I wouldn't wish those on anybody." Auggie swallowed hard. "I don't know if it was any one thing that made them stop. A little bit of therapy, a little bit of perspective. I had to forgive myself. I had to know that it wasn't me that killed my men. I had to know that the blast wasn't my fault."

"I killed Lena," Annie said, her voice level but on the verge. "I killed her."

"She tried to kill you first."

"She killed Simon," she continued, her voice little more than a whimper. "In my kitchen."

Auggie nodded, his voice lower than a whisper. "I know. I know."

He whispered that for a long time. After awhile, she ran out of tears, pulled gently away and blew her nose. Her breathing returned to normal, her composure found her once again, and she stood.

"I should get home," she said in a strong, clear voice, touching his arm. He didn't know what to do, so he walked her to the door. Part of him knew there was no way she was feeling 100%, but he would have to be satisfied with the percentage she reached tonight. He would have to be grateful she didn't get hurt. She reached up and gave him a peck on the cheek. Her voice was soft and sort of broken, but her tone was commanding. "Go back to bed."

And then she left, flying down the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Annie Walker, everything at once.


	5. Mr Postman

_** (This particular one-shot implies an established Annie/Auggie relationship) Also features Drunk!Auggie**_

* * *

Annie was one of those people who didn't remember to check her mail every day. Auggie was the exact opposite.

"Why wouldn't you get your mail every day?" he asked one day at Allen's. "Do you even have one of those mailboxes that locks?"

"What do you mean 'one of those mailboxes that locks'?" Annie asked. "Don't they all lock?"

He sniffed at her ignorance. "If it has a little flag on the side it doesn't lock."

"Where's _your_ mailbox?"

"It's a hole in the wall on the main floor of my building. And for the record I check my mail every single day. That's extra impressive because I can't even read most of it."

"How is that extra impressive?" Annie asked. "Why is this even an argument?"

"This is not an argument!" he insisted, laughter creeping into his faux-angry facade.

"You're making a scene," she giggled in spite of herself.

"You want me to make a scene?" he leaned forward, voice low. "I can make a scene."

She blushed, laughter becoming uncontrollable. "No, no, no, you're right. It's unpatriotic not to check your mail... or whatever."

"You know what?" he was tipsy and fearless. He stood, grabbing his jacket and setting down his beer. "I think we should go check your mail right now."

She donned her own coat and took his arm. "You are _buzzed_."

"On freedom," he whispered as they exited the bar.

...

Apparently, "checking the mail" was not a euphemism. There was a decent pile in the mailbox. She laid it all out on her kitchen counter and thumbed through it. Auggie's arms wound around her waist, his chin on her shoulder.

"How old is some of this stuff?" he asked.

"I don't know, three days?" she pulled a DVD from the pile. "I didn't know I was subscribed to Netflix..."

"What movie?"

She tore into it. "Vanilla Sky?"

"For the sake of our relationship, regardless of the truth, I'm going to need you to tell me your sister ordered that one."

"And if it was me?"

"Then I will see you in another life," he said seriously. "When we are both cats." After a moment, his brow furrowed. "Do you have, like, overdue bills in there?"

"No," Annie fibbed, casting a nervous glance at the thermostat. She slipped that envelope into a separate pile. "Oh, look, I can save 15% or more on my car insurance!"

Auggie turned his head and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Can I tell you a really secrety secret?"

He still smelled like beer. Annie giggled. "Is this a beer secret?"

"Gentlemen do not have beer secrets," Auggie quipped. "I do, however, have Maker's secrets coming out of my ass."

"That was weird."

"It was romantic in my head."

"Anyway..."

"I don't really care about your mail," he admitted.

"Really, because you got pretty worked up about it..." Annie laughed.

"I care about _you__," _he said firmly, suddenly very sober. He spun her around so they were face to face. "I got worked up about _you_."

Annie wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against him. She fit perfectly. "I really like you."

He kissed the top of her head. "I really like you too."

"Even if Vanilla Sky was mine?"

"I used to have it on VHS."

"Maybe tomorrow I can come over and sort through your mail," she suggested, kissing him.

He pulled away after a few moments and frowned into middle distance. "Am I drunk?"

Annie couldn't help but laugh. "A little bit maybe."

"Cool," he kissed her again, dipping her slightly. Drunk or not, this guy made her want to get her mail more often.


	6. Oh, Baby

_Requested: Annie and Auggie as parents. _

* * *

Annie was tired. She was hungry, she was nauseous and she was four days past her due date. She'd been on bed rest for the last week, doctor's orders, but the kid wasn't budging. Danielle had flown in eight days ago for the birth, but she was running out of vacation days and might have to fly back to California before Annie's water even broke.

"You know, if you don't go into labor soon, they'll just have to reach up there and pull the thing out by hand," came a voice from the stairwell.

"Oh look," Annie said flatly. "Daddy's home."

"Yeah he is," Auggie said, closing the door behind him. Ever since Annie became too big for decent-looking work clothes, Auggie had taken to changing out of his as soon as he got home.

"I thought you were hitting the town with Barber and Stu."

He slipped on jeans and a hoodie. "Decided to take a rain check. I'm on high alert these days."

"Well I'm glad you're home. I am bored out of my mind."

He joined her on the bed, kissing her first on the lips and then on the belly. "You are enormous."

"Well thank you, supportive partner. Love of my life."

"Seriously, this is like that allegory with the blind guys and the elephant," he said. "You know, where the one guy feels the tail and he's says 'it's a rope' and another guy feels the leg and says 'it's a tree'-"

"Auggie, where is this story going?"

"Well, long story short, if I didn't know any better I'd guess you were a small mountain."

Annie rolled her eyes. Auggie cupped his hands around his mouth like a megaphone.

"Hey buddy," he said to her stomach. "You gotta get out of there. You're holding everybody up."

Annie ran her fingers through his hair. "I don't know if I'm ready anymore," she thought aloud. "I mean, we spent all this time getting geared up and then nothing and now I don't know..."

"Walker, are you nervous?" the corner of his mouth turned up in a patented grin.

"It's like skydiving. You spend the whole time trying to get psyched up, and then you have to do it quick before you lose your nerve. Aug, I think maybe I've lost my nerve."

"You love skydiving," he countered. "And anyway, we haven't spent time trying to get psyched up, we've spent the whole time getting prepared."

"Really?"

He scooted back so his head lay in the crook of her arm. "Of course. We took all the classes, right?"

"Every last one."

"And we childproofed our house to the point where it's basically unlivable," he continued.

"Danielle put a whole banana peel in the garbage disposal because she couldn't get the trash can open."

"We know how to change both kinds of diapers, we're well-versed in colic, crib death and rashes," he squinted, trying to think of more things to add to the list. "We both function well with very little sleep?"

"Do we?"

"Annie, listen to me. If you think this is going to be the hardest thing we've ever done, you need to take a serious look at our lives so far."

He grinned up at her, those big brown eyes twinkling. He looked like a little boy waiting for Santa Claus. She loved him so much, it made her crazy, and now she was going to have his baby. What was she so worried about?

He sat up, so they were at eye level, ran his hand up her arm and cupped her chin. "Our kid is going to turn out great. Cute, too, if my mother is to be believed."

"I don't know... what if it has your ears?"

"What if it's not a real blonde?"

She joke-punched him in the arm. "Low blow!"_  
_

"Hey, baby, no fighting in front of the baby," he laughed. His hand migrated to her belly once again. "Mommy and Daddy love each other very much." He turned back to her with an expectant look. "Wouldn't you like to say something reassuring to the baby?"

"I'm letting myself go as soon as you're born," she offered. "Daddy will never know the difference."

"Gross, Walker. This kid is making you mean," he turned back to the belly. "I am having all of your art enlarged and framed so Mommy always has to look at it. Even if it resembles the human anatomy in an accidental and highly inappropriate way."

"On second thought, this kid might be really messed up," she laughed. She shifted with a groan. "If it ever gets off of my bladder."

"This kid is going to be fantastic," Auggie declared. "Smart, attractive, socially aware."

"Just like his daddy?"

Auggie scoffed. "I've never been this late in my life."


	7. Confessions

_Requested: Annie discovers something Auggie doesn't want anyone to know about_

* * *

Annie loved hanging out at Auggie's. His place was always impeccably clean, a lifestyle she found refreshing but difficult to personally maintain; plus, it gave her a good excuse to order in.

Tonight, they were waiting on delivery Chinese. The greater DC area was blanketed with a light dusting of snow, but the delivery guy was clearly milking it for all it was worth. They'd passed the customary half-hour mark ages ago.

Auggie sat on the sofa, a glass of wine in hand. She'd been trying to get him into wine ever since Barcelona. He had one hell of a palate, but he still wasn't a fan. She was busy trying not to spill a glass of her own all over his stereo system.

"What are you looking for over there?" Auggie asked, sniffing his glass. "Also, can I have a beer?"

"Damn it, August, I am trying to make you a fancy gentleman," she laughed. She'd moved past the iPod and onto the cabinet full of CDs. "I'm looking for a song- any song- that doesn't have 'blue' in the title."

He was already up and getting a beer. He feigned disappointment. "But that's how you know it's good!"

She thumbed through all the CDs with Braille labels, careful to return them to their rightful bins, before happening upon a shoebox crammed in the back. "Hey, Aug? What are these?"

"You'll have to be more specific."

The albums were all devoid of labels of any sort, unmarked CDs in plain sleeves. "They're just plain CDs. They were in the back of the cabinet?"

Auggie blushed furiously. "Um..."

"What?" she wasn't sure whether to laugh or not. Was this one of those times she was allowed to laugh at his blush? "You don't have to tell me."

"No, no," he laughed. "It's just... I think this is about to get pretty embarrassing."

"I'm all ears."

"You know how I told you, before Iraq I wasn't really a big jazz fan?"

"Yeah?"

"These are all my old mixes," he was turning redder by the second, looking like a bashful teenager. "They don't have Braille labels because I was kind of hoping to forget they existed."

Annie made a face. "Sorry."

"You're going to play them anyway, aren't you?" he flopped back on the couch in humiliation. "This is going to be so bad. Don't judge me."

Annie eagerly plugged the CD into the system. The strains of a song she hadn't heard since roughly 2004 came through the speakers. Hard rock. As was the next one. The third was some screamo something or another. The fourth was Nickelback.

By the time they reached the end of the album, Auggie looked like he was willing himself to disappear.

"It's over," she whispered with mock reassurance.

"In my defense," he managed. "I was a moron."

She grinned. "Nickelback?"

"How about we just pretend this didn't happen?"

"I don't think I can..."

"What did you listen to back then?"

Annie thought back. She blushed a decent blush of her own. "Shakira."

"Yeah. See?"

"But..."

"But?"

"Nothing. Can I keep this?"

"Hell no. I'm destroying that box tonight."

"Don't hurt yourself."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take."

Annie laughed again. She couldn't help seeing Auggie in a new light. "So you went from Nickelback to Mingus."

"Yeah. And I started wearing sweaters. Is there anything else you'd like to cover?"

"No, Mister Rogers, I think I've got what I need," Annie giggled, but he did not look amused. "Hey, if it'd make you feel better, you can force a heartfelt confession out of me, too."

"That would make me feel a lot better."

The doorbell rang, the food finally arriving.

"I used to eat Chow Mein with a fork," she admitted.

"I still eat Chow Mein with a fork," he scoffed. "That is not a confession."

She paid the deliveryman and began dishing up the food. "Well I solicited your confession out of you. It's not really fair that I have to conjure mine out of thin air."

"Did you just buy me dinner?"

"I figured it'd be easier than splitting it," she shrugged. It wasn't like it was a date. "You can get it next time."

"But you brought that horrible wine and everything," he said. "Now I feel bad."

She shook her head at him. "You are unbelievable."

He fished forks from a kitchen drawer and began to set the table. "What's really unbelievable is the fact that I still haven't thought of some horrible secret to draw out of you. I'm almost sure you're a multifaceted human being, there must be something about you I'm curious about."

She set the plates down on the table and took a seat. "Well, you've got plenty of time to think of something."

"Oh, I will, Walker. I definitely will."


	8. To Berlin

_Requested: Annie and Auggie as parents_

* * *

Annie's bags were packed, she'd been debriefed- for all intents and purposes, she was ready to go. Except she wasn't.

"Let's go over this one more time," she said firmly. "The diaper bag is loaded and the fridge is stocked with bottles. I set timers on your phone for feedings... He's got one hell of a diaper rash so the ointment has to be applied first thing in the morning and again at bedtime. The emergency numbers are stuck to the fridge- with any luck this will be a quick in and out, 24 hours tops-"

"You are going to miss your flight," Auggie said. "Besides, you need this. You've been stuck in the house with this kid for three whole weeks, if you don't get out of here you'll go nuts." His voice dropped slightly. "What're you so worried about?"

Annie paused. On the one hand, there were a lot of reasons to be worried about him. She'd never left the two of them completely alone before. But in the past month, Auggie had proven to be the kind of father she thought only existed in kids' movies. He was attentive, gentle, careful without anxiety.

"I'm worried about me."

"Don't say that if it isn't true," he countered. "It would be more than logical to be worried about me. I'm a little worried about me."

"Auggie, I've spent every second of the past three weeks with you and Billy, and now I'm going halfway around the world where I'm not even supposed to call or text or contact either of you in any way. Normally I'd be thrilled to have you in my ear the whole time, but-"

"But I'm taking the time off," Auggie said. "To hold down the fort because we're in this together. We're still a team. We're just honing other skills these days."

He wrapped her in his free arm and kissed the top of her head.

She looked up at him and then down at their son. "Take care of Daddy, okay?"

"We're gonna have a crazy time," Auggie laughed. "Chug some milk, take a nap, maybe listen to a ball game. You, on the other hand, get to sleep through the night, wear pretty dresses, explore a new city-"

"I am pretty excited to be in Berlin," Annie mused. "Speaking of which, when are we planning on reading Billy in? Because I read this article that said that babies absorb more information than we think and the last thing we need is-"

"How about we just focus on getting Mommy to Berlin, huh?" Auggie laughed, bouncing Billy ever so gently. "I think I hear a car outside. That it?"

Annie peeked through the window. "Shit. I gotta go. If you need anything, call Barber, he'll call me."

"You think I don't know how to covertly contact my own wife?" Auggie scoffed. "Don't make me laugh. If anything happens, you will be the first to know."

She moved to grab her bags and go, but Auggie caught her wrist. "Wait," he said quickly. "Gimme a kiss."

She turned to give him a peck, but he wasn't settling for that. "I am gonna miss the hell out of you," he whispered. "But you're going to be great."


	9. Have You Met Stu?

Annie was working on translating Russian chatter when Stu appeared at her desk, so quiet she jumped a foot in the air.

"Hi, Stu," she managed, clutching her chest.

"Hi," he looked shiftily around and then slid a slim envelope across the desk. "Sorry to bother you."

Annie regarded the envelope, which bore her name in hand-lettered calligraphy, with a considerable amount of suspicion. She liked Stu; he was very polite, lots of fun, almost like Auggie's protege, but she didn't usually work with him. His specialty was radio frequencies and code breaking, the old-fashioned spy stuff, and usually their paths never had a reason to cross.

Annie slipped the envelope into her blazer and headed for the ladies' room. She waited until the door, and the stall, were secured behind her before ripping into the creamy paper. It wasn't, as she'd previously suspected, a secret document. Instead, it was the cordial invitation to the nuptials of Stu and someone named Meagan Reese.

Annie didn't know what to do with this information. The wedding was scheduled for only three weeks away, in Martha's Vineyard. She hadn't even known Stu had a girlfriend.

She crept back into the tech cave and tapped Auggie on the shoulder. He spun to face her, removing his headphones.

"Walker," he said with a smile. "What can I do you for?"

"I just got an invitation to Stu's wedding," Annie said. "Did you know about this?"

"Is this your first CIA wedding?" his tone was incorrigibly smug. "Oh this will be fun."

"Don't patronize me," Annie snapped. "I didn't even know Stu was seeing anybody. Is she with the Agency too?"

"That's the fun part," Auggie said. "Her dad does something important in counterproliferation, so her entire family is basically living the CIA lie. If you RSVP, you get a fake way to be acquainted to groom."

Annie couldn't help but laugh. "What's Stu's cover?"

"I work for Merrill-Lynch," Stu chimed in from the doorway. "I just came by to drop off this drive. Does this mean you're both coming?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Auggie gestured to a surface in the corner. "Put it over there."

Stu set the disk drive down and scurried away. Auggie turned back to Annie.

"This is going to be the most fun you've ever had at a wedding."

...

"It's about time you got here," Auggie griped, opening the door. Neither of them had been invited to bring a plus-one, so they were driving up to Martha's Vineyard together, as friends.

"Sorry, my hair refused to curl," Annie smoothed her dress and entered. "You ready to go?"

"That depends... How's this look?"

He looked great. "Very sharp, Mr. Anderson."

"That's Mr. Anderson Stu's friend from college, to you."

"Beats how I know him."

"Let me guess; once again, you were assigned the role of the hooker with a heart of gold."

Annie playfully swatted him on the arm. "I'm a former neighbor."

"That is vague."

"You're telling me."

"So are you ready to go?" he asked, pinning his cufflinks. "What are you wearing?"

"I don't think that's an appropriate question," Annie said coyly.

"Nothing black, white or red I hope."

"Oh, damn, you mean this wedding dress isn't going to work?"

"You laugh but there have been brides..."

"It's a blue dress. Get in the car."

...

Whatever Meagan's father did in counterproliferation, it certainly paid. The ceremony was simple and elegant, and the reception convened in an enormous tent. Annie was seated between Eric Barber and one of the girls from another department with whom she was 300% sure Auggie had slept. She knew this because the girl had asked her how he was, roughly a thousand times. Part of her wanted to point him out across the room, but she wasn't that mean. If this girl was going to track him down, she'd have to do her own leg work.

She was at the bar when Auggie sidled up next to her. "Scotch on the rocks," he said to the bartender, passing his credit card over. Annie intercepted it and passed in her own.

"And a vodka martini, please," she added.

Auggie turned to her with a grin. "Come here often?"

"I'm sorry, bride or groom?"

He arched an eyebrow. "Groom."

"You don't say! Me too."

"Well, that is a coincidence," he said smoothly, extending a hand in her direction. "August Anderson. Stu and I went to college together."

She took the hand and shook it. "Annie Walker, former neighbor."

"Are you sure?" Auggie feigned skepticism. "That seems like a pretty weak connection."

"Oh, paper thin," Annie flashed him a winning smile. "So where are you from?"

"The Midwest originally," Auggie sipped his scotch. "But I live near DC. And yourself?"

"Army brat. I've lived all over. I live in Georgetown now, though," she sipped her martini through gritted teeth. "I also pretend to like vodka martinis when I need to look classy. How's your scotch?"

"Not bad if you drink a bunch of them in a row," he laughed with a small cough. "Listen, this may sound forward, but I figure I should ask while we're both still upright. Do you want to dance?"

"I barely know you," she quipped coyly, ditching the martini. She had to drive later anyway.

"Consider it payment for that drink."

"If anyone owes me a dance, it's your old college pal and his decision to have a cash bar," she took his hand and led him out to the dance floor.

"Doesn't it seem a little ridiculous to have that here?" Auggie asked in a low voice. "All these Agents, using their credit cards?"

"You're killing it," she said. She began to position his hands, but they found their way to all the right places.

"I am loving this music," he said in reference to the brass band. "Let me know if I accidentally step on your toes."

"No worries," Annie said as they moved. "You're a regular Al Pacino."

"Is there anyone behind you?" he asked with a grin.

She barely got out a "no" before he gave her a deep dip and a twirl. She snapped back up to eye level. "Wow."

"I feel like I can trust you," he said in a voice lower than a whisper. "So you might as well know... I'm a secret agent."

"You mean like James Bond?" Annie asked, wide-eyed. "This is such a shock! But I must confess... I'm a secret agent, too."

"Such a shock."

They both broke down laughing. "I'm sorry," Annie said. "Is this how you pick up women?"

Auggie wiped a tear from his eye, about ready to collapse. They walked out to one of the empty tables and sat down. "That depends. Was it working?"

"I should ask you the same question."

"You are an intoxicating cocktail, Annie Walker."

It was then that Barber plunked down next to them. "Hey, gang."

"Hey, Eric," Annie said.

"Listen, Auggie-Man, some of us are chipping in to buy Stu's drinks tonight. You in?"

Auggie retrieved his wallet and handed it to Barber. "No more than 20."

Barber tugged on his arm. "Come on."

Auggie grinned to Annie. "My people need me."

He disappeared into the crowd with the rest of the tech-ops guys to go intoxicate Stu from Merrill Lynch. August Anderson, the roommate- slash- secret agent who, if for just one second, made Annie-the-neighbor weak at the knees.


	10. A Whole Herd of Em

_Requested: Annie and Auggie as parents_

* * *

Auggie lay down on the bed and closed his eyes. No sooner was he halfway out, Annie placed a squirming six-month-old Billy on his chest.

"Are you falling asleep?" she asked, like it was an actual question and not a painfully obvious reality.

"No way. I'm meditating," he mumbled. "Sshhhh, I'm feeling really centered."

"I know you're tired. Just hang in there," she said from the bathroom, running the water to brush her teeth. "Only eighteen more years."

Billy moved slightly, curling up into a ball on his father's chest. Auggie placed a single hand on the baby's back, bracing him.

"I don't feel like I'm overselling it when I say the hardest part of all this isn't the not seeing my kid, it's the never ever sleeping ever."

"Speaking of which, I spoke with your mom today."

Auggie was suddenly very, very awake. "What'd she say?"

"She wants to meet the kid, what do you think?" Annie sighed. "I feel so bad that we haven't had your parents over since Billy was born."

"Well, there is that thing where we're both in the CIA."

"That's the other thing..." she sat down on the bed next to him, applying lotion to her arms. Lavender. "I think maybe I should... take some time."

"To do what?"

She inhaled a deep breath. "I don't know if I can do both."

Auggie gently lay Billy on the duvet between them. He cooed gently, grabbing for Auggie's hand. He caught hold and stuck his father's finger in his little mouth. Annie laughed softly, but it was laced with sadness. Auggie chose his words carefully.

"Annie, who told you that you couldn't do both?"

Annie was very quiet. After a moment, her breathing broke into a sob. "I just- I don't- we can't-"

"Annie."

"When we found out we were going to have a baby, I had this thought that I could be supermom. I didn't think it would even be a problem. But this is hard, Auggie. Maybe it would just be better for everyone if I took some time off to focus on Billy full time."

Auggie scooped Billy up in his arm and scooted close to his wife. Her head reflexively rested on his shoulder. "Is that really what you want?"

Annie's tears soaked through his thin t-shirt. "I love my job. But I don't know if this can keep going the way it's going."

"Annie, if we gave up every time something was too hard, where would we be?" Auggie asked firmly. He didn't wait for her to respond. "I would never have taken the job I have now. I wouldn't have the life I have now. I would be wallowing in self-pity somewhere in the Midwest, if I was around at all. And let's say I didn't give up, but you did. Halfway through training at the Farm. Or on your first day of work when you had that meltdown. What if we both gave up and never met? What if I gave up pursuing my feelings for you because I didn't think I had a chance? We wouldn't have all of this. This house. Our son. Each other. Would we?"

She sniffled. "Auggie, pretty soon he's going to be walking and talking and eating solid food and throwing up in the middle of the night and I don't know if we are going to be able to do all of that and our jobs."

"Well, right now we're lucky because he generally stays where we put him and doesn't need to be spoon-fed, but just because that stuff is going to be harder doesn't mean we can't do it. And that certainly doesn't mean that I can't do it."

"I never said you couldn't do-"

"You're worrying about all the extra work that's going to fall on you," Auggie said evenly. "It's okay to say stuff like that out loud. Honestly, I've been worrying about that too. But that's the kind of thing we have to take on together. It's my job to protect you and care for you and Billy. And I'm gonna do that. Always."

Annie snuggled into his side. "Let's wait before we have another one, okay?"

Auggie laughed. "I was gonna say we should just have a bunch in a row. Raise a whole herd of Andersons at once." He put his arm around her and stroked her hair. "In the meantime, please think long and hard about your current employment situation."

She nodded and took Billy from his arms. "I'm going to go put Billy in his crib."

"When you get back, I'll probably be dead asleep," he admitted.

Annie laughed. "We'll start on the rest of the herd tomorrow."

* * *

I'm not sure I'm super happy with the way this chapter turned out. I'm not a big fan of fics that use, as it's been put "tired disability tropes" but I wanted to make Auggie and Annie's marriage seem really... real. And after doing some research on blind parenting, I found that two big things with blind parents are a) the fact that once babies get to toddler age they become an absolute pain in the ass because they're messy and b) being a working parent. I also wanted to establish Annie as a working mother with realistic concerns for her child, and with working moms a big issue is the amount of strain that goes into doing both, because social pressure tells them they should be at home with their kid instead of furthering their career. All of these things culminated into the above discussion.

What do you guys think? Hit or miss?


	11. Labor and Delivery

_Requested: Annie and Auggie have a baby_

_(I'm gonna be honest- I came to the conclusion that I don't know enough about childbirth firsthand to craft a compelling fic around it, as my secondhand knowledge mostly revolves around one person pushing and everyone else telling them to push... So I did this instead. Hope you like it)_

* * *

After thirteen hours of labor, Auggie and Annie were finally parents. The first few minutes of parenthood were a blur- cutting the cord, baby's first bath, a version of Danielle that Auggie could only think to describe as completely hysterical. And then, just as quickly as the drama started, it died down. The new baby was wrapped in a blanket, placed in his mother's arms, and the room emptied, leaving him alone with his parents.

Auggie stood next to the bed, where he'd been standing for what felt like the past decade, completely overwhelmed.

"Look at you," Annie cooed. Her voice was full of happy tears. She touched Auggie's hand and took it in her own. "What are we calling him?"

"Whatever you want," Auggie said through a few happy tears of his own. "Any names you're partial to?"

"Actually," Annie said, taking a thoughtful pause. "I was thinking Billy."

Auggie froze. So many emotions were hitting him, born of exhaustion and love and affection and tenderness and more exhaustion. But still, he'd yet to have a second alone with the baby. He'd cut the cord, with some assistance, but the kid had been passed from doctor to nurse to nurse to Danielle (super briefly) to Annie, and he hadn't gotten to hold him yet.

"There's a chair right behind you and to the left," Annie said. "Could you pull it up here?"

Auggie felt for and found it, and dragged it in the direction of the bed until the two were touching. "Better?"

"Hold out your arms," Annie said. She passed the tiny bundle to him. "Head's on your left. Why don't you two get acquainted while Mommy naps? See if you think he's as much of a Billy as I do."

Auggie sat down, his son in his arms. The baby was so light. Eight pounds wasn't as much as he'd thought. He lay him across his arm, so the boy's head was in the crook of his arm and his feet were in his hand, and held him close. With his other hand, he felt the blanket. He started at the bottom, feeling the tiny feet, tucked in tight. They were so small that Auggie's heart skipped a beat. The blanket was smooth for awhile, though Auggie could feel the baby's breathing. He worked his way up to the point where baby and blanket diverged. His touch became painstakingly light. He felt a tiny patch of chest, silk-smooth, and two small, grabby hands on either side of a chubby, perfect chin. And then the mouth, slightly spitty, toothless and roughly the size of Auggie's fingertip. He moved his attention to the top of the head, running his fingers downward so he didn't poke the kid in the eye or the soft spot. He felt along his petite browbone, down his nose, across his chubby cheeks to his ears. His eyelashes fluttered as his father's fingers brushed past.

Amazingly, the baby didn't cry. He lay very still, breathing in his brand-new, hiccupy little way. Hot tears ran down Auggie's cheeks, splashing on the blanket. He clutched the baby close to him and kissed him on the forehead, just feeling him breathe. He couldn't believe he was so lucky.

"So what do you think?" Annie asked from the bed.

Auggie jumped slightly, startled. The baby fussed. "Shh, shh, it's okay," Auggie whispered. He turned to Annie. "I thought you were sleeping."

"Sleep through that? Are you kidding me?" Annie leaned over the edge of the bed, her hair brushing her husband's shoulder. She took his chin and turned his face so she could give him a kiss. "You are amazing."

"Hardly. Consider my contribution to this event, in comparison to yours," Auggie tried to pass it off, but he was completely choked up. "I think it's only fair we name this kid Billy."

Annie laughed. "I figured."

"You want him back?"

"I think you're doing just fine," she said, kissing him on the forehead. "I'm going to sleep."

"Hey, Annie?"

Annie rolled back towards him. "Yeah, babe?"

"He's beautiful."

When she spoke again, he detected a hint of a smile. "Well, you know, he has my nose... and your eyes."


	12. Of Houses and Homes

Annie had been out of the country for the past three weeks. It had been one mission after another, without so much as checking in at Langley. So far, she'd turned an Armenian arms dealer, had an undercover date with a French businessman, dodged a few bullets in Sweden, and now she was finally, finally home.

But as Annie turned the key in the lock and opened the door, she felt no sense of comfort or warmth. She remembered when the place was at full capacity, with two little kids running around. She missed them. She missed watching Dora the Explorer at breakfast and coming home from work to find Danielle elbow-deep in a carton of ice cream, always ready to extend an extra spoon. She even missed Michael and Danielle pretending not to fight in front of the kids.

She sat down, leaning her back against the front door. The second Danielle left, sorrow moved in. It dwelt in the kitchen, where Lena Smith had opened fire. It hung around the three empty bedrooms. It made a nest in the empty hall closet, curling up for a long winter's nap.

Annie drew her knees close to her chest and thought about all the times when there were people here that missed her. How many times had she blown them off in favor of work? How many times had Danielle made her a plate, only to have Annie work through dinner? How many times had one of the girls wanted to show her something they did at school, only to have her arrive home long after they were asleep?

She had taken her family so for granted, and now they were far away. She'd misaligned her priorities, and now it was too late. It wasn't like she could just pop over to their house in California, as if it were a journey from the guest to the main house. These days, the sisters only Skyped once every few weeks, and the girls were usually in school when they spoke.

Most of the time, throwing herself into work at the agency was time consuming enough that she didn't think about it, but coming home to an empty house always brought the loneliness back to square one.

...

Auggie was wrapping up an audit when the phone rang. "August Anderson, Tech Ops."

"Hey, are you busy?" Annie's voice was small.

"For the next five minutes," Auggie said distantly, only half-listening as he ran his fingers across his keyboard. He was hoping it might be less if he hurried. "What's up?"

"I need a drink."

He couldn't control his smile. "Well, well, well. Annie Walker is human after all. Allen's in fifteen?"

"I am _so_ there."

...

Auggie reached their table on the arm of a tall, slender redhead.

"Thank you very much," he charmed, taking a seat across from Annie. The redhead took one look at Annie and stomped away in a huff.

"What was that?" Annie grinned.

"That," Auggie said. "Was a woman with very little knowledge of disability etiquette, being taken advantage of by a man who has no interest in sleeping with her."

"What?" Annie asked.

"She grabbed my arm, insisted upon helping me, and I let her."

"This happen to you a lot?"

He groaned. "All the time. But we're not here about that, are we?"

"I got us a pitcher," she slid it towards him.

"Pretty light," he commented, filling his glass. "How long have you been sitting here?"

"The duration of my visit is admittedly disproportionate to my liquor intake," Annie admitted, then scoffed. "I sound like you."

"What's up?" Auggie asked.

Annie sighed. "You have a family, right?"

Auggie laughed. "Nope. I was hatched."

Annie didn't crack a smile.

"Yeah, I have four older brothers."

"Are they close by?"

"Not generally. My family is based in Illinois, so we touch base when we can."

"Do you ever miss them?" Annie asked.

Auggie sighed. "Being the youngest of five siblings, really close in age, I grew up sharing everything. Clothes, room, food, toothpaste, you name it. And I thought I hated it, but as we grew up and moved out, I realized that I didn't feel real without a bunch of people around me. As I got older, I unconsciously picked things that provided that same sense of community and brotherhood. But what I've realized is, it's not just about having people around me all the time that comforts me. It's knowing that I have people at all. Family and friends aren't always able to be physically present, but that doesn't mean you can't feel loved and supported by them."

"Does your family know what you do for a living?"

Auggie took a sip of his beer and smirked. "This was supposed to be about you."


	13. The Wingmen

Eric Barber was the kind of guy that was always in the way. He was still relatively fresh meat, joining the tech-ops division only a year or so after Auggie got there, and despite his best efforts, it still showed. It didn't help that, size-wise, Barber qualified as a low-level giant. He stood, at Auggie's best estimate, around 6'4, built like Paul Bunyan with the grace of a daddy long-legs trying to get out a window. Like Hansel and Gretel, Barber was prone to leaving a trail of breadcrumbs around the office; Auggie could always tell where Barber had been and where he had gone, by the empty chip bags on the desk, the food particles lodged in the keyboard, the office chair jacked up to accommodate mile-long legs. Some days, Auggie found it endearing, but the more he made contact with open desk drawers and empty Coke cans, the less gracious he became.

Stu, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. Auggie could be the first to arrive and the last to leave, and never catch a whiff of Stu all day. He was, for all intents and purposes, Mr. Clean. Stu, Barber and Auggie weren't too distant in age, but Stu always seemed like the baby of the team. Having joined the Agency right out of college, Stu treated every workday like it was his first and it could be his last. He kept his head down, his eyes peeled and his ears open, staying out of everyone's way at all costs. He only popped into Auggie's office when it was important, really important, which was far less often than he probably should. But he was the best codebreaker, and one of the most underrated technicians in the Agency.

Even still, these guys were Auggie's friends. They knew things no one else in the office understood, if only because of the complicated technical jargon. If it's true that high school never ends, Auggie anticipated the three of them would be shoved in lockers any moment. That's why God made men like Conrad Sheehan and Jai Wilcox in the first place. Never mind that Auggie was once jock material; nerds had to stick together.

Tonight, the three of them sat at Allen's, trying to get Barber laid.

"What are you looking for in a woman?" Stu asked.

"Could you maybe not fiddle with your wedding ring when you say that?" Barber griped. "That doesn't really feel like a question you ask a guy who's made it clear he would bump uglies with literally anyone in this bar."

Auggie grinned. "_Literally_ anyone?"

"Any woman."

"Shucks," Auggie pouted. "For a second I thought I had a shot with the great lumberjack himself."

"Pretend to be a lumberjack," Stu suggested diplomatically.

"Why would a lumberjack have a tattoo of C-3P0 on his tricep?"

"Um. Wow," Stu stammered.

"Oh my god is he showing it? Are you _showing_ it?" Auggie demanded in a rare moment of unadulterated frustration.

"Yeah but don't worry, I'm flexing," Barber whispered.

"Look at that," Auggie quipped. "It's least-of-your-worries-o-clock."

"There's a brunette in the corner who keeps looking over," Stu hissed.

"Looking? Or rubbernecking?" Auggie chuckled.

"It's a nice tattoo, okay, Auggie? My cousin did it for me, and he used to be in the Air Force."

Auggie frowned. "Okay..."

"She's coming over here," the more hysterical Stu became, the lower his voice got. "She's coming over here _right now." _

Auggie raised an eyebrow. "Should I grab a condom out of my wallet?"

"It's not go-time yet," Barber hissed. "And I have my own condom. Thank you."

"Why do you keep a condom in your _wallet?" _Stu asked, perplexed.

"Sorry, Stu, I keep forgetting you're married."

Auggie was about to give Stu a very vanilla sex talk when he was silenced by a puff of _Tresor. _

"I like your tattoo," her voice was smoky, but not masculine, with a certain inflection that implied she was not only fit, but the owner of a few tattoos herself.

"There's more where that came from," Eric managed. "I'm Eric."

"Charlene." They shook hands across the table, directly in front of Auggie. Auggie kicked to his right, hoping to land one in Barber's shin.

Barber snapped to attention. "Can I buy you a drink, Charlene?"

"Sure."

And with that, Barber clapped Auggie on the back and took off with Charlene like Wile E. Coyote after the Road Runner. Auggie sat, gripping his beer in amazed silence.

"Oh," Stu said abruptly. "Now I get why you keep them in your wallet."


	14. The Glencoe Andersons Part 1

_This includes elements from my previous fic 'Family Affairs'- I didn't really think about Eric being Barber's first name when I named Auggie's brother, but what's done is done. **This is the first of 3 parts. **Please let me know what you think! _

* * *

Annie had never been so nervous in her life. After eight months of dating, Auggie had popped the question. No, not "Will you marry me?" The question was actually "What are you doing June 19th through 24th?" Its ramifications, however, made it one hell of a proposal.

Auggie's parents, John and Virginia, were celebrating their fiftieth anniversary. Regardless of distance, occupation or general scheduling conflict, all five of the Anderson boys were expected to be in attendance with their families. His mother had made a point of saying that was the only gift she wanted. When it came to crafting guilt trips, Virginia was an artisan.

Auggie planned the time off far in advance, making it clear that he couldn't be at the Agency's disposal over that long weekend and booking his plane tickets well before he needed to. Annie remembered hearing about the trip months ago, but Auggie had made no mention of bringing her along.

"Well?" he asked expectantly from the other side of the table.

"Um," Annie stammered. "I don't think I have plans."

"You're not working that weekend," he said firmly.

"Did you get my schedule cleared?" she asked incredulously. She might be having a panic attack.

"I pulled some strings," he said suavely. His face fell suddenly. "Wait- unless you don't want to come. I didn't really think about how this would look if you said no... You can always say no if you don't want-"

"I'd love to go with you to Glencoe," Annie said honestly.

"But?"

Annie laughed in spite of herself. She reached reassuringly across the table. "No 'but.' I can't wait."

"You can't wait?" he made a face. "That's laying it on a little thick. This is the Anderson family we're talking about."

The only relatives of Auggie's she'd met were his eldest brother Eric, and Eric's twenty-one year old daughter Lucy. They'd met when Lucy had been taken into CIA custody after consorting with the Chinese mafia. While Lucy had been successfully turned and was now training at The Farm, Eric had confirmed his reputation as a distant deadbeat. With her mother not in the picture and Eric pursuing his education all over the world, Lucy spent most of her childhood with Auggie's parents in Illinois. She and Auggie were particularly close. She knew very little about the rest of the family.

Even still, she put on her brightest smile. "I genuinely can't wait."

...

The Anderson home in Glencoe was an enormous, pristine colonial with a manicured lawn and driveway packed with cars. The cab dropped them off right at the front, and Annie and Auggie got the bags from the trunk.

"Do you smell that?" Auggie chuckled as they approached the front door, sniffing for dramatic effect.

"Smell what?" Annie asked self-consciously. She'd just spent a whole day in transit; she wouldn't be shocked if the smell was her.

"I think it's... could it be... _fear?" _Auggie laughed at his own joke. Annie tried and failed. He gave her hand a squeeze. "They're going to love you."

The plane had been four hours late leaving, and traffic out of O'Hare was horrendous. Annie wouldn't be shocked if they missed dinner.

Auggie knocked confidently. "Anybody home?" he hollered. Annie blushed in spite of herself, equally embarrassed and relieved that this was how he approached everyone's house and not just hers.

The door opened a crack. "That depends. What're you selling? And does the blonde come with it?"

Auggie grinned. "Rob, you son of a bitch."

The door swung open all the way and the brothers hugged. Rob all but dragged him inside, and Annie followed.

"Auggie's home," Rob bellowed as relatives began coming out of the woodwork to greet him.

At some point, someone got the bags. Annie stood slightly off to the side, watching as Auggie greeted at least ten people with hugs and handshakes.

"Look at all that testosterone," said a voice to Annie's right. She turned to see Lucy, a baby in her arms. "Do you suddenly smell sausage?"

"I am so glad to see you," Annie admitted, and Lucy hugged her with her free arm. "How's the-"

"Peace Corps? Great!" Lucy said with the big "don't blow my cover" smile Annie knew all too well.

"That's not yours, right?" Annie acknowledged the baby.

"Hell no. Cousin," Lucy said. She nudged Annie towards Auggie. "You're going to have to assert yourself."

Annie approached the throng nervously, gently touching Auggie's arm.

"So who _is _the blonde?" Rob asked with a wily grin. He didn't look much like Auggie, but they had that same smile.

"Everyone, this is my girlfriend Annie Walker," Auggie announced, snaking his arm around Annie's waist.

The introductions started slow and ended in a throng of children all shouting names and questions and favorites. Didn't Auggie's family have a military background? Why couldn't they introduce themselves more like the Von Trapp children?

Auggie's parents were the last to greet her. His mother Virginia was a slender woman, about Annie's height, with short grey hair and warm brown eyes.

"We're so excited to have all our boys home," she kept saying, eyeing Auggie protectively. Even still, she was sweet and inviting, complimenting Annie on her "lovely sweater" and "beautiful smile."

John Anderson, on the other hand, was another story. Towering and broad, he had jet-black hair with grey at the temples and olive skin, with piercing green eyes and a booming voice. He shook Annie's hand instead of hugging her, a handshake so firm it hurt. He didn't say much.

Once the introductions were through, they adjourned to the backyard. The patio was strung up with lights, and the kids roasted marshmallows in a fire pit or ran out on the lawn. Annie joined Auggie and the other adults on the patio furniture. Within moments, someone had grabbed them both beers.

As for the Anderson brothers, there were five, and it was crazy seeing them all together. Their coloring and features were different combinations of their parents, but they shared certain things in common. The shape of their eyes, that chiseled jaw and chin, the broad smile that creased their cheeks with laugh lines.

Eric, the eldest, looked exactly like their father, with darker skin and jet black hair. He remained on the distant outskirts of the joking conversation, and made no attempt to defend himself when he was the brunt of teasing.

Rob, who'd opened the door, was the life of the party. He looked the least like the rest of them, with fair skin and blue eyes and smaller features. He owned a construction company in Glencoe, and had the sort of relaxed, blue collar demeanor she loved so much in Auggie. It didn't take Annie long to realize he was the first brother Auggie had read in, and the one to whom he was closest.

Pete worked as an ER doctor in Cincinatti. He had wavy hair the same color as Auggie's, and hazel eyes. He was somehow charming without being friendly. It was clear he and Auggie weren't particularly close, despite being glad to see one another.

Gabe was only two years Auggie's senior, though he had a boyishness that made him look even younger. He was a Chicago attorney, with a subtle tan and coiffed, sandy hair. He was responsible for the baby Lucy had been holding earlier.

The other wives ventured in to put the kids to bed, but Annie was still going strong.

"So Annie," Gabe broke open his third beer. "How are you with remembering names?"

"She's doing great," insisted a happy-drunk Auggie.

Annie was a little buzzed herself. "I deal with a lot of people in my line of work, but this has been a lot. I might need a refresher course."

"If it's the wives that are getting you down," Rob chimed in. "There's an acronym for that."

"I'm afraid to hear it," Annie admitted.

"It's MASH," Auggie mumbled, embarrassed.

"Mash?" Annie repeated.

Pete was bright red from laughing. "Come on, Rob, she just got here..."

"MASH," Rob enunciated. "Marley, Alison, Sarah... and Eric's Hand."

The brothers all broke down laughing except Eric, who rolled his eyes.

"And you wonder why I never bring nice girls home," Auggie laughed. "THIS IS WHY."

"I'm sorry Eric," Annie said diplomatically.

Lucy appeared at the back porch. "Hey Annie, your bed's ready, if you want me to show you where everything is."

"Okay," Annie stood and turned to Auggie. "I'm going to turn in. You okay here?"

Auggie grinned. "I'll probably shut this place down."

She bent down and kissed him on the cheek, inciting cheers and boos from his brothers.

"That's it?" Pete chided. "She came all the way here."

"Fine," he said, standing. "You want a show?"

He found Annie's arm and then her cheek, and kissed her passionately on the mouth. When he finally pulled away, Annie's head was swimming.

"That enough for you animals?" he bellowed, finding his seat once again. His brothers cheered and made gross noises and generally acted like they were twelve.

Annie followed Lucy inside.

"You've got a little something on your face," Lucy commented as they climbed the stairs. "I think it's my uncle's dignity."

...

Eric, Pete and Gabe turned in one by one, leaving just Rob and Auggie out on the patio. Rob moved chairs, so he was in Annie's former seat. It was a hot night for June, so muggy that Auggie guessed he probably wouldn't be able to sleep anyway, especially not in a twin bed in his childhood room.

"So," Rob said. They were rounding the corner of drunkenness when the world starts to feel sober again. "Auggie has a girlfriend."

"Certainly appears that way," Auggie sighed. "What do you think of her?"

"She know what you do for a living?" Robert had known about Auggie's work with the Agency for several years now, and had kept the secret on lock remarkably well.

"How do you think we met?"

"I can't believe you brought her home. It must be getting pretty serious between the two of you."

"I was thinking of asking her to marry me," Auggie blurted. "After mom and dad's anniversary party."

"Do you have a ring?" Rob asked seriously.

"What do you think of her?" Auggie repeated.

"She's beautiful," Rob said. "I've never known you to go for blondes, but hey."

"I figure it won't matter in the long run," Auggie chuckled dryly. "YOLO."

"At our house, anyone who says that stupid word has to put a dollar in the swear jar," Rob said. "That's 25 cents more than 'fuck.'"

They were quiet for a moment, listening to the chorus of crickets.

"What's Lucy think of her?" Rob asked.

"Loves her. Now why won't you give me your honest opinion?"

"She's great," Rob said seriously. "She's smart, she's funny, she seems to get your engine going. But I know you."

"What does that mean?" Auggie couldn't help being just a little offended.

"It means two things. One, you make enormous decisions when you're confronted by your own mortality," Rob said. Auggie thought back. Proposing to Parker, saving Tasha, that first kiss with Annie. Rob had a point. "The second thing is that you keep everything close to the vest. You're a steel trap. You need someone you can confide in. And in marriage, in a good marriage, that means 100%, no exceptions. No secrets."

Auggie sat back and sighed.

Rob continued. "So the question isn't whether your family likes her. It's whether she can give you what you need. Whether she's comfortable living life like you live it."

"You mean the blind stuff."

"I mean the blind stuff. And the spy stuff. And the family stuff. I mean all of your stuff. Are you ready to rent a U-Haul and throw your emotional baggage in with hers? Because that's marriage."

"Yeah."

It surprised Auggie more than it did Rob.

"Yeah?" Rob asked, a smile in his voice.

"Yeah," Auggie repeated, resolutely this time. "Annie's the one."

Rob clapped his little brother on the back. "Then go get her, tiger."


	15. The Glencoe Andersons Part 2

_Part 2_

* * *

Auggie's back hurt. He'd been saddled with the bottom bunk of a bed he was well over 100% sure was not designed to accommodate adults of any size. His teenage nephew had taken the top bunk, and Auggie couldn't help noting the sheets smelled vaguely of pot. Two of the younger boys were in the bunk bed opposite. Auggie had to give his mother credit for leaving the boys' rooms as they were. She'd rearranged every room but this one, where the younger four had resided from middle school until they left for college. Eric had married and divorced young; his situation was always separate from the rest of his brothers. Auggie comforted himself with the knowledge that it was always Eric's choice. The majority of Eric's misery could be traced back to his own choices. And besides, it wasn't like each brother didn't keep some degree of distance from the rest of the family. They each harbored their own little secrets, like how Pete smoked with his back to the wind so no one would get on his case about being a doctor who stunk of cigarettes; or how Gabe had been dyeing his hair since he was eighteen and found his first gray. Or how Auggie worked for the CIA.

You know, little stuff like that.

The fact that the house was the same meant that it was still easily navigable. Auggie and his brothers were well-versed in the layout of the place, even in the dark. They'd all had to sneak out and back in at some point without falling down the stairs or breaking something in the hallway. The only difference was, Auggie couldn't double-check just by turning on the light.

Annie caught him by the arm in the hallway and gave him a quick kiss. "Hey, stranger."

"Morning. How'd you sleep?"

"Like a baby. Tossed and turned and cried all night."

Auggie groaned. "Ugh."

"Come on, that's the kind of lame joke you get to make all the time!" she protested.

"Oooh, are we fighting?" Gabe appeared out of nowhere, placing his hand on Auggie's shoulder and getting in between him and Annie.

"We're about to," Auggie said coolly.

"Sounds like _somebody_ didn't like the separate sleeping arrangements," Gabe chided. He removed his hand and used it to slap Auggie on the arm. "Breakfast is ready."

Auggie turned to Annie. "There are currently a dozen men on the premises. Even if five of us are hungover, I'd estimate we have no more than three minutes before it's all gone."

...

The kitchen and dining room were packed.

Annie stood at the far corner of the kitchen, waiting on a fresh pot of coffee. Looking around, she tried to remember everyone she'd met last night. It seemed like there were even more in the daylight. Lucy sat between Rob's sons, two high-school aged boys with generic, one-syllable names. Nick? Josh? Jake? Across from them was Gabe's wife... Sarah. She was the S in that horrendous but surprisingly useful MASH acronym, feeding creamed spinach to their reluctant baby. Pete's wife Alison had her arms wrapped around his neck, and he whispered something to her that made her laugh out loud. One of their little guys tugged on her sleeve with sticky fingers, asking her to cut up his waffle. Eric and his father were discussing something election-related, but Annie tried to tune it out, and she noticed Auggie doing the same. They were on vacation. No politics allowed on vacation. Auggie and Rob were teasing Rob's youngest, Stephanie about something, and the little girl laughed so breathlessly and hysterically that Annie was afraid she might fall off her seat. She reminded Annie of her niece Katia, a thought that made her both happy and homesick.

Coming from a family that was basically just Danielle and herself against the world, Annie was overwhelmed by the amount of activity at the kitchen table. So much love and noise and food. Squabbles faded in and out, among the children and adults, interrupted by a level-headed someone who reminded them that whatever they were fighting about wasn't as important as what was going on at the table. Laughter rippled in waves through the room. Conversation partners changed at the drop of a hat.

"Is this thing still not ready?" Rob's wife Marley glared at the coffee pot.

Annie had lost track of how long she'd been standing there. "Oh. I guess so."

Marley opened the trap and inspected the filter, saturated with burnt grounds. "This thing is a piece of crap. Sometimes it gives up and burns the beans. But it was a Christmas present from Pete, so Virginia will never throw it away.

She refilled the filter and poured more water into the machine, and then restarted the brewing process. When she was done, she turned to Annie.

"You look a little overwhelmed," she said with a gentle smile. She was probably in her mid forties, but she looked good. She had freckly skin and strawberry blonde hair. "I know the feeling. Of course, I shouldn't complain. When Rob and I got married, it was just the five boys and Lucy."

"How long have you and Rob been together?" Annie didn't know why she asked that; it was just the first question to fall out of her mouth.

"Nineteen years," Marley said matter-of-factly. "How about you and Auggie?"

"Nine months," Annie said, but that didn't feel true. "But we were friends for a few years before that."

Marley lowered her voice slightly. "Did you meet him before or after?"

"After."

Auggie's sister-in-law smiled. "He really likes you if he brought you home to this tornado."

Annie blushed in spite of herself. "I'm sure I'm not the first."

"No," Marley said quickly. "You really are."

"The first... ever?"

"Well, the first since he got back from Iraq. Which is kind of like the first ever."

"What do you mean?" Annie asked. There were decades of Auggie's life that happened before Iraq.

Marley searched for the right words. "Auggie's very careful about who he lets into his life. For a long time, I thought it was because he was hellbent on being independent, which is something about him that hasn't changed, but I think now it's more... he protects the people he loves. I mean, come on, you can't tell me he constantly talks about his family."

Annie shook her head. "I really can't."

"It's because he wants to keep his life and his family separate. I genuinely believe it's because he tries to keep us safe."

Annie froze. "What do you know about his job?"

Marley winked. "That depends. What do _you _know about his job?"

Annie realized she knew, too. And it all made sense. "So why doesn't he bring people from his life in DC home to meet you guys?"

"Home is sacred to these boys. My husband was the same way about meeting the family. The minute they bring someone home, they know the rest of the family is going to give them an honest opinion. Plus, the person they bring home is going to see the most basic side of them. You're the first girl Auggie's loved and trusted enough to bring home. This family knows him so well, we could humiliate him in half a second. If he's putting up some kind of front for a girl, he can't risk that. But he's 100% himself around you."

"What are you two talking about?" Rob asked, coming up and slinging an arm around Marley's shoulders.

"Just you," Marley said, offering her husband a sip.

Auggie was just a step behind him. "Conspiring against us?" he asked, running a hand along the counter's edge until it found Annie.

"I was just telling Annie some embarrassing stories about you, Auggie," Marley laughed.

Auggie pulled Annie into his arms and casually stole her coffee cup. "Yeah? Which ones?"

"Was it the one about the goldfish?" Rob asked eagerly. "Oh my god can I tell that one?"

Auggie laughed, handing Annie her coffee again and wrapping his arms around her waist. "Actually, can I borrow my girl for a little bit?" he asked his brother. Annie detected a hint of knowing urgency in his voice, as if Rob knew exactly why Annie needed to be borrowed. "We'll have plenty of time to dispute who killed the goldfish this afternoon."

Rob broke out in a patented Anderson grin. "Fine. But the dead goldfish will still be your fault, regardless of when you return."


	16. The Glencoe Andersons Part 3

_Part 3_

* * *

Auggie guided Annie, turn by turn, out of his parents' house and to a park within walking distance.

"This is beautiful," she commented as they strolled beneath leafy, sun-dappled trees. There was almost no one around, and a refreshing breeze off of Lake Michigan.

"I haven't been here in so long I was actually worried it might be a housing development," he admitted. "Like, I'd give you directions and we'd just drop off into a construction pit or something."

Annie laughed in spite of herself. "Well, it's definitely still a park."

"So what were you and Marley really talking about?" he asked.

Annie frowned. "You. We told you that."

"She claimed to have been telling you funny stories about me."

"Yeah, so?"

"So," Auggie said. "No one was laughing."

At the very moment Annie tried to come up with a good excuse, Auggie's cane caught a three-inch rift in the sidewalk and jammed into his side. To Annie's surprise, he just started laughing.

"What's so funny?" she asked, shocked.

"I tried to catch you off guard and karma tried to kill me with my own fucking cane," he laughed, rubbing the spot where the cane had caught and impaled him.

She guided them over to a park bench and sat down. He collapsed his cane and lay his arm across the back of the bench. She leaned into it.

"You know, when I was in high school we used to come here to smoke and get drunk," Auggie said, turning his face to the sun.

"Really?" Annie asked, shocked. "Are you sure?"

"What do you mean, 'am I sure'?" he laughed. "Yes, I'm relatively certain that's a thing I did."

"But you're Captain Anderson. Is the CIA aware of this?"

"Ssshhh," he laughed, nuzzling into her hair. "I won't tell if you won't."

"So, why did you bring me here?" Annie asked. Her hand subconsciously found his knee, his fingers raked their way through her hair. It was nice being close like this.

"I wanted a second alone with you, somewhere I could be sure none of my brothers would hit on you."

"They have not been hitting on me," Annie insisted. They sort of had, but nobody had been creepy about it. "You know, if it makes you uncomfortable, you can always just hit on their wives."

Auggie made a face. "Pass."

"Come on, Sarah's pretty cute."

"I take it she finally did something about that nose."

Annie swatted him. "Mean!"

"I'm _kidding," _he laughed. "I have eyes only for you. And literally nothing else. That's all."

"Is that really all?" she asked seriously.

He blushed slightly. "Well... what do you think of everybody? I mean are you having fun? Do you want to turn around and run yet?"

"I love it here," she declared honestly. "It's nice being a part of a functional family for once, if only by proxy."

"We have our ups and downs," Auggie clarified. "But I choose to believe I come from good stock."

"I see where you get your honesty, and your kindness, and your sense of teamwork," Annie said, resting her head on his shoulder. He stroked her arm. "I see why you are the way you are."

He didn't say anything for a very long time. When Annie looked up again, she saw that his eyes were just a little bit misty.

...

As soon as they arrived back at the house, Auggie went looking for Lucy.

"She's upstairs," Pete said, somewhat unhelpfully.

The men were playing a game of something or another in the backyard, but Auggie wasn't up for it. It was an inordinate amount of work, and he knew he'd probably slow things down. Annie had disappeared with one of the women, so he knew she was taken care of. He just needed to find Lucy.

As luck would have it, Lucy found him as he was halfway up the stairs.

"Hey," she said in passing. He reached out and grabbed her arm, startling her. "Oh my god don't do that!"

"Sorry," he said with an impish smile. "Sorry, I just needed to get your attention, I've been looking all over for you."

She stepped back so they were on the same stair. "What's up?"

They went into the boys' bedroom and Lucy shut the door. Auggie took a seat on the bottom bunk, and Lucy joined him.

"I need your honest opinion on something," he said, rummaging through his suitcase and pulling out a jewelry box.

"Oh my god I love it," Lucy said before the box was even open. "I love it."

Auggie handed her the box that contained the ring, two intricately interwoven rose gold bands with a square-cut white sapphire in the middle. Or, so he'd been told. He still wasn't going to put down money on a diamond, but he figured Annie should have something nice to show off.

"I still love it," Lucy insisted. "Oh my god."

"So it's nice?"

"It's beautiful," she squealed, handing it back.

Auggie thought back to when he'd shown Annie the ring he bought for Parker. At the time, he thought Annie was excited for him. But compared to Lucy's reaction, Annie may as well have keyed his car. This, what Lucy was displaying, was true excitement.

"So you're proposing to Annie?" Lucy hiss-whispered, careful not to let anyone else hear.

"Thinkin' about it," Auggie said with a sheepish laugh. "I just don't really know how to go about it. Also, I kind of... I guess I wanted your blessing."

"Of course you have my blessing," she exclaimed, wrapping him into a hug. "I am so excited for you."

"It's high time I settled down, huh?"

"No, it's high time you admitted that you and Blondie are soul mates," Lucy corrected. "But quite frankly I think anyone in this family would gladly admit it for you." She chuckled darkly. "It took you a long time to see what was right in front of you."

Auggie groaned at her joke. "Oh, you."

"Oh, me," she laughed. "The anniversary party is tomorrow night. I think you should do it right there. Somewhere private, so she doesn't feel pressured."

"Will you be my wingman?" Auggie grinned. "Please?"

"Hell yes," Lucy squealed. "I can't believe it. Another aunt. You guys are going to have to change the acronym."

...

After a whole day of bustling around and getting ready, the party was in full swing. The backyard had been transformed, with white tents and the patio doubling as a dance floor. A long morning of cooking and bonding with Auggie's mom and sisters-in-law had led to a brilliant spread, and Annie was grateful for a chance to dress up without a political agenda.

She mingled, sticking relatively close to the food. Auggie stayed in one place and people flocked to talk to _him, _a rare talent Annie had yet to understand much less master. He looked damn fine, she'd say that much. She had no problem watching him from afar.

There were toasts, and speeches, and a slideshow retrospective detailing everything John and Virginia ever did over the course of the last 50 years, and then the music started.

"Pardon me," she said to an older lady with whom Auggie was conversing, taking his hand. "I need to borrow him for a moment."

"I can't thank you enough," Auggie said once they got out onto the dance floor. "That conversation was dragging like a dog with worms."

Annie laughed, wrinkling her nose. "That bad?"

He shrugged. "Better now."

They danced for several numbers, one of which included a trade-off, in which Rob cut in and Marley danced with Auggie. When they met back up again, Auggie leaned over and whispered, "Come on."

They walked, hand in hand, into the mostly-empty house and up the stairs, past the guest rooms and into the master bedroom.

"Are you sure we're supposed to be in here?" she asked, feeling a little weird about being in the Andersons' bedroom on their anniversary night of all nights.

"We'll be quick, it's fine," he assured her.

"We're not-"

"Don't be a pervert," he insisted, running the back of his hand along the wall, and the bureau, until he was confident they'd reached two french doors. He pulled them open and took a daring step onto the small balcony. "Is this as remarkable as I'm hoping?"

They were directly above the tents, overlooking the party but maintaining total privacy. The trees were in front of them, and a clear sky above. The music was a little kitschy- "Let Her Dance" by Bobby Fuller Four, but it wasn't Annie's party and anyway if the music had been perfect it would've almost felt like too much.

When Annie turned back to say "yes," Auggie was on one knee.

"Yes, the evening's perfect. I reserve all other answers for direct questions," she said because she had the habit of becoming difficult when flustered.

"You wanna?" he joked, a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Oh my god really?" she laughed.

"Okay, okay," he cleared his throat and tried again. "Walker, will you marry me?"

In that moment, it was like her life flashed before her eyes. But it wasn't her life. It was their life. Her first day of work, all their nights at the Tavern, their first kiss, their first date, all leading back to this. She wanted to absorb all of the moments at the same time, let them wash over her, but there was a beautiful man, wearing out his knees and waiting for an answer.

So she said "yes."


	17. Favors

_Requested: Auggie and Annie at the airport_

* * *

"You could've just called a cab," Annie said as Auggie crawled into the front seat and tossed his bag in the back.

"But then who would wake you up at three in the morning?" Auggie asked, grinning ear to ear.

"You're lucky you can't see me," Annie said, chugging her coffee.

"Do you look like hell?" Auggie asked, never dialing down that smile.

"Okay, did I do something bad? Are you punishing me for something?"

"This is what is known as a 'favor,' Annie Walker."

Annie groaned. "This is what it's like to do a favor? Your life must _suck." _

"If favors are currency, then I am a wealthy man."

"If I'd known I'd have to wake up a three AM I would have stayed in that Russian prison."

Auggie wrinkled his nose. "Too soon."

"So where are you headed?" Annie asked, adding a playful "Mr. Solo Mission."

"The great city of Classified," he said suavely. After a moment, he cleared his throat. "It's just a tech conference in Milwaukee. Barber's going too."

"Auggie and Barber, tearing it up in Wisconsin."

"I'll try to get everybody back in one piece."

They pulled up in the loading/unloading zone in front of the airport.

"I'm supposed to meet Barber at the ticket counter," Auggie said, gathering his stuff. "But in all honesty, airports are one of the most patronizing places on the planet, so is it okay if I stay put for a sec?"

"Totally," Annie said, ignoring the one rule of the loading/unloading zone and turning off her engine.

After a moment, she turned to Auggie once again.

"Hey, so... I guess I'm in some serious favor debt, huh?"

"Don't be so hard on yourself," Auggie said. "You get me coffee every day, despite the fact that it is in no way your job. You are consistently the designated driver. You haven't changed your perfume in three years."

"Those aren't favors."

"Well, they are to me."

Annie spotted Barber out of the corner of her eye. She took Auggie's hand in her own. "Listen. If you need another one, don't hesitate to call me."

"Hey, I have a ficus that needs babysitting-"

"Stop making light of the fact that you killed my ficus," she laughed. She gave his hand a squeeze. "Your travel buddy's here. Out the door and nine o'clock. Watch the curb."

He grabbed his things and unfolded his cane out the open car door. "You gonna miss me, Walker?"

Annie smiled in spite of herself. "Nah."

He smiled back. "Yeah me neither."


	18. Drunk Dial

_Requested: Last one-shot continuation feat. Auggie and Barber in Milwaukee_

* * *

Annie was just crawling into bed when the phone rang. After an epic longest-workday-ever, she wanted nothing more than just to sleep, but phone calls after two AM generally pertained to the kinds of things she couldn't ignore. To her surprise, the Caller ID said it was Auggie on the other end.

"Hey, what's up?"

She was met by rustling noises and bad static. The reception was terrible, wherever he was. Also, was that Ke$ha playing in the background? Annie wondered for a moment if Auggie's phone had been stolen. She couldn't reconcile Auggie and Ke$ha together in her mind.

Finally, a male voice came on the line, shouting over the music.

"ANNIE WALKER!"

"...Barber?"

Annie tried to make out where they were, what was going on. It was when he shouted

"ANNIE WALKER!"

again that she realized she was the blessed recipient of a drunk dial.

"Barber, where's Auggie? Is Auggie with you?" she tried to make herself louder while making the noise on the other end quieter, but it wasn't working. She switched ears with the phone.

"ANNIE WALKER, AUGGIE IS A GREAT GUY!" Barber slur-shouted. "HE'S JUST SHY."

"Okay?" Annie frowned in confusion. "Um, can I talk to Auggie please?"

Barber's voice became more distant. "TALK TO ANNIE ANNIE WANTS TO TALK TO YOU!"

Static. Music change to Katy Perry. What, were they at a strip club? Then, Auggie's voice.

"No, no," he laughed in the way he always laughed after his fifth beer or third shot, depending on the occasion. "I'm drunk."

"AUGGIE JUST WANTS," Barber slurred, taking back the phone. "AUGGIE JUST WANTS TO TAKE YOU SOMEWHERE AND LIKE... EAT FOOD WITH YOU YOU KNOW? AND TELL YOU YOUR HAIR LOOKS REALLY PRETTY."

"Barber, hang up," Auggie pled in the background. "Barberrr..."

"JUST TELL HER MAN WHY WON'T YOU JUST TELL HER?"

Static. Katy Perry. Silence.

Annie sat down on the bed, somewhat shell-shocked. As with all drunk dials, she was confused, and then irritated, and then worried. But more than that, she was curious. What had Auggie been saying?

And, more importantly, when he got back from Milwaukee and didn't remember any of that, would she be able to keep from bringing it up?


	19. Ten Gallons

_Requested: Auggie goes shopping_

* * *

If there was one thing at which Annie was not skilled, it was keeping up with shopping. In the early days of their marriage, Auggie had often arrived home to find that the refrigerator and cupboards were almost completely bare.

"Annie, there's no toilet paper!" he'd hollered in an exceedingly compromising moment.

"I just bought some!" she yelled back, like he was being some sort of diva.

"When?" he'd asked calmly.

"Um... May?"

It was on that July day that Auggie sat his wife down and offered to take on the shopping duties from that moment forward. She'd protested at first, insisting that she was good at being frugal and they almost never ate at home anyway, but he stood his ground. Wiping his ass in his own house was not about to become some sort of luxury.

He kept a detailed grocery list, based on how low things were running. If he bought everything at a consistent pace, things started to get used up at about the same time. The milk and the orange juice each had about a half glass left, judging by their weight, and Billy had six diapers remaining.

That made today shopping day.

Auggie didn't shop in the big box stores. God knew he didn't do it with a toddler. It was weird enough trying to figure out the lay of everything _and _the prices _and _when things were rearranged, and while Auggie was all for adaptive technology and accepting help, he considered a solo trip to Costco or Wal Mart an act of casual masochism.

Particularly when you could order everything online these days.

He plopped Billy down in his playpen and booted up his computer. He cross-checked the sales with the grocery list, taking time out to toss a couple Cheerios and an episode of _Yo Gabba Gabba _in his son's direction. When he was done, he hit Print and called it a day.

...

"Auggie?" Annie called from the kitchen later that night.

"Yeah?" Auggie was on the couch, reading a story to Billy.

"Why did you order _ten gallons _of laundry detergent?"

"Shipping was free on bulk orders," he said like it was the most logical purchase in the history of capitalism.

"Ten gallons."

"So?"

"I know you've never seen our laundry room, but I was sure you had a better grasp on its general size."

Auggie scooped Billy up like a football and joined her in the kitchen. "There's enough space in there."

"There really isn't."

"So put them in the garage."

"The car is using it."

"I could swear I was paying the mortgage on a two-car garage. What's taking up the other car?"

She sighed in resignation. "Apparently, ten shitting gallons of detergent."

Billy uttered something along the lines of "shitting," sending both parents reeling in horror. Auggie gritted his teeth.

"Buddy, _why?" _

"He already knows 'fuck'," Annie said in a panicky sort of voice. "I heard him say it."

"It's those Nick Jr. shows," Auggie said with mock resolution. "They are ruining our baby's life."

Annie couldn't control her laughter. She scooped Billy up out of Auggie's arms and sat him on the stack of detergent bottles. She then took Auggie's hand and ran it over the stack.

"You've ordered a detergent throne for the tiny king of profanity."

Auggie made a classic horror movie face. "I'm a monster."

Annie kissed Auggie on the cheek and the baby on the forehead. "We'll put em in the garage."

Auggie reached over and picked Billy up. "Hear that, kiddo? Mommy will still be doing your laundry when you're Daddy's age! Can you say 'thank you, Daddy'?"

Billy smiled a big, spitty smile. "Fuck."


	20. Superbowl Sunday

Superbowl Sunday. In the cruelest twist of fate, Auggie was stuck at work and Annie was stuck at home.

"Switch with me," he pled Saturday night, body-blocking her side of the bathroom counter so she couldn't brush her teeth.

Annie put one hand on either side of him, toothbrush crammed in her cheek. "You know it doesn't work that way."

"This sucks," he groaned. "I love the Superbowl."

"Auggie, I have never known you to care about football. Not ever."

"Are you kidding me? Four brothers? Military career? These abs?"

"You're just saying words."

"I used to play football all the time," he explained. "Normally I wouldn't be too attached to it, but it's Billy's first Superbowl."

Annie raised her hand to stroke Auggie's cheek. "If I could fix this, you know I would."

He took her hand and kissed it. "I know."

Auggie walked dejectedly out of the bathroom and crawled into bed, setting his alarm for work the next morning. Annie watched him as she brushed her teeth, feeling as bummed as he was. This was the hard part of being parents in such a demanding field. So much energy went into work and staying healthy, sharp, fit and sane, that everything else felt like extra. Including marriage and children.

Annie turned out the lights and crawled under the covers. Most of the time, Annie knew she held a weird advantage. In the dark, they were even. If anything, Auggie had the home court advantage.

"This sucks," he sighed.

"Yep," she echoed. He did this sometimes, starting up a big conversation just as she was starting to doze off. He liked being in bed with her, and she never minded postponing sleep to listen to him vent. He did it so infrequently that she'd learned to treasure it.

"I hate missing firsts."

"You've been there for more firsts than I have," Annie griped.

Auggie rolled over so they were forehead-to-forehead. "The Superbowl was just such a thing growing up, you know? My brothers and my dad and I would always get really into it, even if our team wasn't playing. I always hoped that if I had a son, that'd be a built-in tradition."

Annie kissed him. "Being working parents is hard."

"No one said it was going to be easy."

"Why is nothing ever easy?"

Annie laughed in spite of herself. "You're easy."

...

Auggie spent the entire day at the office. He would love to be listening to the game on the radio, but his ears were otherwise occupied with actual work. Anyway, he really didn't want to hear the score.

He didn't get home until almost nine. He expected to find Billy in bed and Annie in front of the TV with a glass of wine. The game was long over, the score pointless. He just wanted to get something to eat and crawl into bed.

To Auggie's surprise, Annie met him at the door.

"Hey," he said, giving her a much-needed kiss.

"I have a surprise for you," she said, sounding more awake than he'd expected.

"...Okay?" she took his hand and walked him to the couch.

"I know how upset you were about missing Billy's first Superbowl, so I decided to save it for you," Annie said, placing Billy on her husband's lap.

"How is he still awake?" Auggie asked. He ran his hand over the applique on the baby's onesie. "Is that a football?"

"I went all out. He took an extra long nap today so he could stay up for the game," Annie rested her head on his shoulder. "You didn't think I was going to let you miss his first big football game, did you?"

Auggie was overwhelmed. "You know, not every wife would do this."

"You don't have every wife," Annie said. "Also, I thought it was only fair that he learn about football from his daddy."

"Fine. But somebody's going to have to describe the cheerleaders."


	21. IKEA

"I need your help," Annie pronounced, perching on the edge of Auggie's desk.

"Oh?" he slipped off his headphones and paused his computer. "What a surprise."

"You're gonna hate it," she warned.

"Good start. What is it?"

"I bought a bookshelf from IKEA and I need someone to help me assemble it."

"Aren't you dating some bright young lad with power tools?" he asked, as if Annie was just going to pull one out of her purse and inflate him right there.

"You know I'm pathetically alone," Annie said with a beaming smile. "And so are you so come on."

"I'd love to, Walker, but I don't read Swedish," he tried, but Annie was persistent.

"I do! And anyway it's more that I need help with the moving heavy things and rearranging furniture."

"So that every time I come over I have no idea where everything is?"

"So that you can know where everything is before anyone else," she tried. "Also, so that I don't have to throw out my back or pay for someone to put it together."

"You're soliciting uncompensated manual labor out of a blind guy," Auggie said calmly. "To save fifteen dollars on shipping and handling."

"And assembly. Mostly assembly."

"Annie..."

"I'll pay you in beer."

"Not light beer."

"Obviously."

"And not that Blue Moon crap either."

"Orange and beer don't mix."

"That's what I keep trying to tell you."

"What kind do you want?"

"I don't know, something hypermasculine. Guinness."

"You want me to pay you in Guinness. What, are you digging me a canal?"

"That depends. How complicated is this shelving unit?"

"It's not going to be as complicated as you think, boy wonder. Come over tomorrow afternoon?"

"Reluctantly."

"See ya there!"

...

If Auggie was being honest, he didn't like this one bit. He was handy, sure- he was reasonably certain he could assemble an semi-automatic from memory alone- but he was not sure he could pull off assembling IKEA furniture in the dark. That was something he paid other people to do even before his accident.

But Annie needed help, and if he knew her like he thought he did, that meant his role would be more along the lines of moral support than actually handling the drill. Plus, he was getting paid in Guinness. Like a grown-ass man. He could pretend to be a furniture assembling grown-ass man for a Saturday.

"Hey!" she opened the door before he was even out of the cab and met him at the curb. She took his arm and pressed a can into his free hand. "Here's your advance."

The living room smelled strongly of amber and tea. "Are you burning incense? Is this a trap?"

"You got me," she said with an audible eyeroll. "Welcome to the orgy."

"I knew the Guiness was too good to be true."

She swatted him playfully. "Scented candles. Now, the bookshelf is over _here_." She led him over to a large box, leaning up against the wall.

"Compact," he commented, running his fingers over the cardboard.

She released his arm. "Floor's clear. Have a seat. I'm gonna get a box cutter."

Auggie took a meditative sip of his room-temperature canned beer. Here he was, seated criss-cross applesauce on a beautiful woman's living room floor, waiting to do one of very few things he was entirely positive he could not.

Annie rejoined him, opening the box with great theatrics and laying the pieces out in front of him.

"You're sure you don't know Swedish?" she joked, opening the incredibly crinkly instructions. "Wow, this Swedish-to-English translation is atrocious. No wonder this stuff always falls apart. This isn't even the same tense of the word."

Auggie smirked at her nitpicky linguistics. "You ever put one of these together before?"

"Absolutely not," Annie laughed. "Have you?"

"Absolutely not."

"Okay, hands out," she said.

He obliged, and she slid a large slat of wood towards him. "Is this the base?"

"You sure this is your first rodeo?"

Two hours of well, _that_, later they were both on the floor, facing what was apparently a completely assembled bookcase.

"Impressive," she said under her breath.

"Who, me?"

"No, me. I didn't think I could do it with the drill but I have outdone myself."

"And what of my contribution?"

"I have a confession to make," she said finally. "I didn't really ask you over here to help me."

"No," Auggie feigned shock. "But I was so sure..."

"It's just been lonely around here," her voice was small.

"Yeah?"

"I felt weird putting together furniture for just me. I really hate living alone."

"Sucks, huh?" he laughed. "But you know I'd do anything for you. Even come over at the last minute and pretend to put together furniture. I've proven it."

"Thanks, Auggie."

"Can I make one last request?"

"Anything."

"Give me the power drill."


	22. First Fight

Established_ Auggie/Annie relationship._

* * *

In all the time they'd been friends, Annie and Auggie had never been in a true fight. Auggie had, rather naively, expected this bliss to carry over into a romantic relationship.

Cute.

It had started with Auggie making Annie breakfast for dinner.

"Where'd you learn to cook like this?" she purred, taking a bite.

"Rehab," he said suavely.

"Breakfast is the most underrated meal of the day," Annie continued.

"Too bad we almost never get time to eat it."

"Well, breakfast for dinner is your best idea yet."

Auggie took a meditative sip of orange juice. "I had another idea."

Annie swallowed. "Yeah?"

"Well, I have some PTO coming up, and I need to take the days before the end of the year or I lose them, so I was thinking maybe you and I could take a little trip and-"

"Yeah?" Annie's voice was much more suggestive this time.

"-Visit your parents."

Annie dropped her fork with a clatter. When she spoke again, her tone was cold and condescending. "I'm sorry, what?"

Auggie froze, trying to figure out what was with the sudden mood change. Granted, Annie was not super keen to talk about her own family, he generally wasn't either. It was more a case of her not asking, not him having a problem with any of them. In his life, not talking about things had no connection to how he felt about them.

Clearly, Annie's philosophy was a bit different.

"I was thinking I could meet your parents."

"I haven't met your parents," she said in a strangled voice.

"...Or we could visit them," he suggested.

"No," she said flatly.

"No?"

"Auggie, you don't know what you're talking about," she said. She tossed her napkin onto her plate and dropped the dish in the sink. "Thanks for dinner. It was great."

And then she stormed out, slamming the sliding door so hard that it bounced back off the frame. Nothing about that dinner had been great.

Annie didn't initiate conversation at work at all the next day. Auggie wanted to ignore her; it was easy, in theory, to ignore people when you couldn't see them. Not so much in practice.

_Lots of women wear Jo Malone grapefruit, _he tried to tell himself as he waited in line at Starbucks, as Annie waited on a mass coffee order that did not include him. _Plenty of women wear high heels._

But Annie was not every woman. And whatever he'd done, he needed to fix it.

_..._

Annie felt badly. She wasn't sure if it was because of Auggie's seemingly innocent proposition, or her reaction. Annie was sensitive where family was concerned. Danielle was the only one in her family who'd ever really been there for her, so she was Annie's family. With all the messes thier father had made over the years, and all the plates he'd left her mother to spin on her own, Annie harbored a certain degree of resentment for both of them. She'd forgiven them, but she didn't trust them and she was not about to take time off to see either one of them.

She sighed, heavy with the knowledge that Auggie had no idea. She'd blown up at a guy who thought he was doing something nice, who for all intents and purposes was being a sweetheart. He'd made her breakfast for dinner and she'd left a gross mess in his sink. He probably didn't even know what he'd done wrong, and she was freezing him out.

Some of her anger stemmed from the fact that Auggie always got to be so stoic and private. On the other hand, he wore all his biggest scars on the outside. Annie wondered if she'd keep her personal victories secret if all her shortcomings were in plain sight all the time. She couldn't even wrap her head around it.

She owed someone an apology.

...

Auggie was in the shower when Annie arrived. To her credit, she stayed outside, knocking for what he guessed to be a minimum of ten minutes.

"Who is it?" he asked, drying his hair with a towel and hastily pulling on pants.

"Me," she said quietly.

He threw the towel on the bed and decided to skip the shirt.

"Hey," he said, opening the door.

"Whoa," she responded. He could practically feel her staring at his abs. "S-sorry, I just... very nice."

"What's up?" he asked. He was guarded, a little raw from their last confrontation (read: cleaning eggs benedict and toast out of his sink), but he also wanted to be gentle. Diva behavior was not typical for Annie and whatever initiated it had to have been significant.

"Can I come in?" she asked. "I brought you apology cake."

"Apology cake?"

"Yeah..."

"So... are you apologizing?" It came out much snottier than intended.

"Yeah. I'm sorry for blowing up at you. You really had no way of knowing..." her voice trailed off into an atypical emotional frustration.

"Listen, you don't have to tell me anything until you're absolutely sure you're ready."

She sighed deeply. "My relationship with my parents is rocky. For a lot of reasons. I have the kind of daddy issues that they write books about. Danielle has been the only reliable family in my life, in years. And I wish that wasn't the case, but it is. And the last thing I want to do is see either of my parents right now. I've felt that way for a long time and I have a feeling it's going to be a long time before I feel differently and you need to know that sometimes things will seem one-sided and it's not fair because I'm dying to meet everyone you've ever met and you probably feel that way about me, but I just... can't. I'm not there."

She let it all out in a rush and stood there, seemingly just waiting for him to speak.

"Put the apology cake in the fridge," he said seriously.

She was flustered, but obliged. "Okay."

"Come here."

She obliged to that, too, standing so close that their heat mingled, but not touching him. He didn't wait to touch her. He wrapped her up in a tight hug, and held her for longer than he'd probably ever held her before. Her coat felt weird against his bare skin, the zipper pressing uncomfortably against his stomach, but he didn't care. He held her until he was reasonably certain he'd absorbed some of her anxieties, until he was sure things were good.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered into her hair.

And she didn't say anything stupid, like "for what," she just held him back. And there was a cake in his fridge, and a fight on their track record, and there would be others, and it was okay.


	23. Headaches

**If you can read this, congratulations! Friday night there seemed to be some sort of glitch in which the file didn't upload. Bummer. If you're reading this, then that means it's fixed!**

_Established Annie/Auggie relationship._

* * *

Annie needed Auggie's help. One of the passwords he gave her was outdated, and access was the last leg of her immediate work for the day. The only thing standing between herself and an early exit home, was the fact that she couldn't find him.

"Hey, Barber, where's Auggie?"

Barber wiped his chip-crumb covered hands on a napkin and furrowed his brow. "He went home sick."

"That's impossible," Annie countered. "Auggie doesn't get sick."

"Well, he went home sick at two, so I guess there's a first for everything."

Annie frowned. No way. "Did he say where he was going?"

Barber shrugged. "He said he was sick. I guess you could call him."

Annie stepped outside and dialed his home number on her cell. He answered on the third ring.

"Hey, where are you?" she asked, a certain amount of panic in her voice.

"I'm at home. I'm fine," he said in a voice that wasn't.

"Barber said you were sick..."

"Annie, I'm really all right. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

He wasn't, not remotely, no matter how he tried to make it sound that way, but he hung up before Annie could protest. She could never tell how bad things were with Auggie because he constantly pushed through and skimmed over his problems, but he was audibly in pain. She recalled the times she'd been sick or hurt, how he'd come and taken care of her.

At the very least, this move would make her look like a crazy person, but she was willing to risk it.

He'd given her an emergency key in their second month of dating.

"What constitutes an emergency?" she'd asked.

"Fire, flood, injury, sex," he'd listed with a smirk.

She wasn't sure which one of these this was, but she was declaring an emergency.

"Knock-knock," she said, sliding the front door open gently.

"Annie?" he lay on top of the made bed, a rag over his eyes.

"Hey," she whispered, going over to him. The apartment was creepy-quiet. "You don't look all right."

"Headache," he managed.

When Auggie got headaches, he _really _got headaches, but she'd never seen one bad enough that it had taken him out of work. From what Annie understood, his blindness had very little to do with his actual eyes. When the IED exploded, the reverb of the blast threw his brain against the inside of his skull. The swelling and impact left him totally blind, a rarity in the realm of visual impairment, but he also got sudden, excruciating headaches.

Like this one.

"What are you doing here?" he asked softly.

Annie leaned over, put her hand on his arm and ran her thumb back and forth, a soothing move she learned from her mom. "I just wanted to make sure you were all right. You sounded pretty bad on the phone."

She was overwhelmed with guilt for coming. Auggie never wanted anyone to see him like this, and there was nothing her presence could possibly help. It was a matter of waiting out the storm, and he could do that better in silence.

"I'll get out of your hair," she whispered, standing again. She squeezed his hand, but he squeezed it back, pulling her back towards him.

"No, Annie," he removed the rag and sat up. "Stay." He patted the bed beside him.

She hesitated. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

She lay down beside him. After a moment, he rolled over onto his side and she wrapped herself around him. It felt natural. She felt his muscles relax slightly against hers.

"I'm glad you came," he said finally.

"I almost didn't," she admitted. "But then I thought about how you always barge in when I'm sick, so I thought I'd give it a shot."

"This was not a fire, flood, injury or sex," he reminded her, a hint of a smile on his face.

"Are you going to take away my key?" she asked playfully.

"This is strike one."

They lay there, atop his bed, in the pitch-darkness, and she realized she really loved him. It wasn't the first time she'd thought it, they'd been saying it for months, but this time it really hit her. Love was lying in the dark with a guy with a headache. Love was being the only person he would ever let see him like this. Love was holding him until he felt better because you know he'd do the same if the roles were reversed. This was love.


	24. Knocked Up Part I

_Established Annie/Auggie relationship._

* * *

Annie felt weird. It wasn't the kind of weird that inspired one to throw up or dye their hair red, but it wasn't quite... normal. As in, the thing that had been happening once a month since she was thirteen... wasn't so much these days. Her first instinct was to go to bed early. Her second instinct was to polish off the chocolate ice cream. Her third instinct was to buy a pregnancy test.

She did so on her way home, overcome with a mix of trepidation and fear. She crept into the drugstore, sure she knew where they kept them, only to discover that she had no idea.

"Excuse me," she asked a gangly girl with a name tag that said 'HANNA- SALES ASSOCIATE.'

"How can I help you?" Hanna the Sales Associate asked, chewing a wad of overly fragrant gum and never looking up from the contact solution she was stocking.

"Do you have..." Annie sort of lost the words on the way out of her mouth. She pressed her lips together and tried again. "Is there any way you could direct me to your..."

Hanna looked at her like she'd just requested a tinfoil hat for the impending eclipse.

"Where are your pregnancy tests?" she whispered finally.

Hanna sighed a weight-of-the-world sort of sigh and dropped a box she was supposed to be shelving. She stood and motioned for Annie to follow her.

Annie took the box to the register, reading the sales pitch on the front. _NO OTHER BRAND IS MORE ACCURATE! _Annie hoped not. This thing was expensive.

The line was a mile long. Annie was wedged between an elderly couple and a braless woman in sweatpants whose only purchase was a bumper sticker that read "My Miniature Pinscher Is Smarter Than Your Honor Student."

"You shoulda got the blue one," Braless Sweatpants said in a thick Baltimore accent. "It's got words instead a the wacky lines."

Annie blushed. "It's for my sister," she blurted. She didn't know why she'd thrown Danielle under the bus; everyone could see the ring on her finger. She needed to get out of there ASAP.

...

She managed to beat Auggie home and chugged coffee until she couldn't take it anymore. Three minutes to wait? Whose idea was that?

Annie set the test on the edge of the tub and washed her hands. She brushed her teeth. She braided her hair and unbraided it. The apartment was too orderly to tidy. Way to go, Auggie.

The timer went off and Annie had to force herself to look. She bit her lip and peeked, one eye at a time. Two very bold pink lines peeked back at her.

Holy shit she was having a baby.

...

She told Auggie she was taking the next day off to go investigate a lead in Richmond. It was a long enough way to go that he didn't ask a ton of questions, and the ones he had, she had rehearsed answers to. Instead, she went to the doctor.

"Two and a half months," he said, running the Ultrasound across her abdomen. "Looks like everything is progressing along according to schedule. Congratulations."

"You're sure," she said seriously. "No doubt?"

"100% sure. Heartbeat and everything."

Annie sighed and lay back against the crinkly paper. "I guess I have to find a way to tell my husband."

...

Annie paced the length of the apartment. She'd put the test in a Ziploc bag and washed her hands again. She wanted to have it for reference (he couldn't just look at the Ultrasound photos) but in no way was anyone touching a piece of plastic she'd just christened with her pee.

She had a few options.

Leave the test somewhere he would find it. _Gross._

Hand it to him and make him guess the results. _Mean._

Ask him if he'd noticed anything different lately (like maybe a change in weight). _Masochistic._

Then it hit her. She went into the bedroom and pulled out the Braille slate he kept in his bedside drawer. She worked carefully, checking her work against the _Braille for Dummies _book he'd half-jokingly bought her as a wedding gift.

When she was finished, she put everything back where it belonged and slipped the paper into a spare envelope. She added a stamp and a blank label for dramatic effect, slipped the envelope in with the rest of the mail and waited for him to get home.

...

He arrived home around seven, hung up his coat and put away his cane and shoes. "Annie, you home?"

"In the kitchen," she called, trying to keep the nerves out of her voice.

"How was Richmond?" he asked flatly, as if just playing along.

"Good. How was your day?" she approached him with a hug, and he repaid her with a kiss.

"Better now," he said with a smile.

"Oh, before I forget, there's some mail for you," she grabbed the pile and thumbed through it for show. "This letter?"

He took it and ran his fingers over the top. "Any return address on it?"

"No," she said sweetly.

"I wouldn't open it, then." He walked over, pushed the pedal on the trash can and dropped it in.

"Auggie, come on," she said, grabbing it and handing it back to him.

"Annie, you're not serious. In our line of work it could be anthrax."

"Don't be weird," she nudged the envelope towards him. "Come on."

He sighed and tore it open from the top, pulling the thick paper gingerly from inside. He ran his fingers across it quickly. "What the hell?"

"Oh my god Anderson just shut up and read it."

He touched the bumps slower this time. His brow furrowed. "Wait, what?"

"What's it say?" she was ready to explode.

He laughed. "It says I'm Pergnant."

Annie blushed. In her haste, she must have mixed up the letters. "Shit."

Auggie laughed a sort of nervous laugh, halfway between excitement and trying not to mock. "Annie, is there something you need to tell me?"

Annie covered her face with her hands in embarrassment. She peeked at her husband with an irrepressible smile. "We're pergnant."


	25. Knocked Up Part II

_Continued from ch. 24_

* * *

Auggie and Annie ate dinner, in what Annie perceived to be a celebration of her pregnancy, but he was pretty quiet after that. Annie watched him cogitate from afar and wondered if his silence was one of secret disappointment. They were just starting into their second year of marriage, which seemed soon, but it was as good a time as any. Kids were one of those things that Annie knew would just have to happen, because if she tried planning for them, it would never seem like the right time. Even still, she had no idea what Auggie was thinking.

She waited until they were in bed that night.

"How're you doing?" she asked, snuggling close to him.

"Just a lot to think about," he said, his voice heavy.

"Like what?"

He waited, thinking before speaking. "Well, I mean, this is a big step for us."

"Yeah, so?"

"So we're going to have to take a lot of stuff into account, Annie," his voice was hard, like he was repressing the bigger issue. "This is a really big deal."

"Stuff like what?" she asked softly.

"I have no fucking idea how to do any of this," he admitted. She wasn't sure, but she thought she detected a hint of fear in his voice. "I haven't exactly researched this part of things."

"We have six months to figure it out."

He shook his head. "Not we, me. I'm the one who has no idea how to be a dad."

"It's not like I've ever done any of this before," Annie said. "We're going to be new parents, we're supposed to be scared shitless."

"You're the one who should be scared," he said bitterly.

"Hey," Annie said seriously, taking his face in her hands and pressing her forehead to his. "You are going to be the most incredible father. We are going to be the most incredible team. We are going to have the most incredible kid."

He was quiet for a long time, with her forehead pressed to his and her hands on his face. He sighed softly. "I want to believe that."

Annie kissed him softly. "So believe it."

He kissed her back, passionately, and she moved his hand to her belly, ever so slightly protruding, and he kissed her again. "Where would I be without you?" he asked, moving his hungry kisses down her neck.

"That doesn't matter," she said honestly. "You're here now."


	26. Istanbul, Seni Seviyorum

_Established Auggie/Annie relationship_

_Just a super quick lil one-shot for Valentine's Day_

* * *

Annie had never been a fan of Valentine's Day. Days ran together in this line of work, save for the big holidays and the national ones, and February 14th didn't fall into either category. This year, Annie had been on a mission in Turkey since the twelfth, and Auggie was spending the day visiting some old army buddies at Fort Bragg.

"We'll do something when you get back," he said at dinner the night before she left. "It'll be no big deal."

No big deal. Exactly. In all reality, Annie found no romance in the day itself; you couldn't force things like that just because it was a certain date. And anyway Auggie would never spend money on a Hallmark card.

Annie arrived at the safe house on the fourteenth, exhausted and completely indifferent to the date on the calendar. It had been a ridiculously long day, and all she wanted to do was sleep. No, she wanted to sleep next to her husband. For the first time in a long time, she was feeling lonely on a mission. It was bad enough that he wasn't her handler, but this was rough.

She didn't even turn on the lights to the bedroom; she'd sleep in her clothes if she had to. She was halfway to the bed when-

"You're gonna want to turn on the light."

Her scream caught in her throat. She scrambled for the lamp.

There he was. August Anderson, seated at the edge of her bed with a bouquet of flowers, trying to conceal a grin. "I'm sorry, darling, did I scare you?"

Annie sat down next to him on the edge of the bed and threw her arms around him. "I was just thinking about you."

"That was the idea," he said, setting the bouquet and his cane aside so he could reciprocate the hug. "You didn't think I'd miss a chance to go to Istanbul."

"I can't believe you came all the way here..."

"Happy Valentine's Day, Walker."


	27. Rich and Fulfilling Lives

_Established Auggie/Annie relationship._

* * *

Auggie approached Annie on Friday morning before work.

"What are you doing tonight?"

Annie wiped Billy's nose and tried to avoid getting any of his food on her clothes. "Probably this. Why?"

"I was thinking we could grab dinner." Auggie's tone wasn't quite right. Annie straightened up and turned to give him her full attention.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah," he said quickly. "I just heard somewhere that the occasional date night is good for new parents."

Auggie had two kinds of smiles. The genuine ones lit up his whole face. The other kind were just a stretch of the mouth intended for the passive reassurance of others and masking of other emotions. The smile he gave his wife in that moment was of the second variety.

"I guess I could get the sitter to stay late," Annie said, sweeping her hair up into an elastic and playing along. "Any thoughts on the restaurant?"

"Let's cross that bridge when we come to it," he said.

He left with the car service as she waited for the nanny, who was once again tardy. Annie had half a mind to read her in just so she might grasp the importance of being on time to this particular job. Whatever Auggie was concealing was big. Annie ran through a list of things it might be, but none of them seemed plausible. Then again, it was Auggie. There was no precise template for "normal behavior."

That night as they were seated in the back booth of her favorite Indian restaurant, she decided dancing around the issue was pointless.

"Okay, Anderson. Spill it."

For a split-second, he looked completely flustered. "Uh..."

"I know you're trying to butter me up for something, and you've been not at all charming about it, and I'd really prefer you tell me what's going on up front, rather than going ahead with it and telling me after the fact."

"I was offered the OCA job. Again." Auggie responded so fast that it caught Annie totally off guard. His voice was harder than usual, his expression that of the gravely serious man who sometimes busted into Arthur Campbell's office and cussed him out. It carried a certain amount of reluctant trouble. Even though it was good news, Annie felt her stomach drop to her shoes.

"When?" she managed.

"A week ago."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" she asked.

"Because I didn't even think it was serious. And when it turned out to be serious, I didn't think it was worth considering."

"What happened to the guy they hired to replace you?" Annie asked. This was huge, all right.

"That information is above my pay grade."

"Do you want it?"

He looked perplexed. "What?"

"It's a big opportunity for you," she said, regaining cool composure. "Is it something that you want?"

His brow furrowed. "Annie, I bombed that job."

"Apparently you were good enough to approach again."

"The only reason it's ever been offered is because I'm overqualified for my current job and under qualified for field work," he scoffed. "It's not even a real offer."

"It sounds real to me," Annie said seriously. "It sounds like they realized what they lost."

"No, it sounds like they realize what I lost," Auggie said bitterly. "You know what Arthur said to me when I started that job? He said that there are plenty of overt operatives who lead rich, fulfilling lives."

"That seems a little dramatic," Annie said, taking a sip of her water.

"You know who the last person to tell me I had a shot at a 'rich, fulfilling life' was?" Auggie snapped. "A nurse at Walter Reed."

Annie froze. That's what this was about. "So why even consider the job?" she challenged. "Why even bring it up?"

Auggie sighed again. "The money."

"The money," she repeated.

"We have a family, Annie."

"You would take a job you hate for your family," it wasn't really a question, so much an attempt at clarity.

"I'd do anything for my family," Auggie said seriously.

"Can you even be an overt operative, married to a covert one?" she asked. The room was sort of spinning, and she hadn't even had a drink yet. "I mean, is that even a possibility? Because, before, I was really upset that I couldn't see you every day and I mean that wouldn't be a problem now, but-"

"I don't know," he said, exhausted. "I haven't asked."

"You should do what _you _want to do," she said abruptly.

His brow furrowed, as if to say _I don't understand the question. _

"Auggie, I love you. I can't ask a person I love to do something that makes them hate themselves for my sake."

"Annie, what about college and the house and all of those things? That's a concern now."

"The kids will be happier, the house will be homier and all the other stuff will suck a lot less if you aren't miserable at work," Annie said seriously.

He sighed. "Are you sure?"

Annie grinned a shit-eating grin. "Yes. It is _your _rich and fulfilling life after all."

* * *

_*Author's Note: There was a complaint about my use of the term "shit eating grin"- In America, that's a term for a kind of cat-that-ate-the-canary smile, full of mischief and antagonism. In this instance the irritation was that the phrase killed a light and fluffy moment. In reality, I meant to write that line as Annie kind of teasing Auggie. Originally it was meant to end the fic on a teasing note, she's harassing him a little bit. Keeping him sharp. It clearly wasn't interpreted that way and after rereading it I see where the irritation lies, and how you guys might not have picked up on it because her prior line was so sensitive and sweet. I just like when Auggie and Annie get under each other's skin (in a good natured way) because it keeps either one of them from wallowing._


	28. The Plea

_Requested: Auggie and Annie breakup angst. (Something a little different. Interested to hear what you think.)_

* * *

Auggie didn't wait for her outside the elevator anymore.

Annie walked into the DPD alone.

When she dropped off his coffee, he said a simple "thank you."

When they went for debriefing meetings, he stood as far away from her as possible.

All she had to do to get out of his head was change her perfume, wear different heels, cut her hair so it didn't brush her collar. It wouldn't matter what he did; she still had to look at him every day.

He accused her of clinging to the past.

She accused him of looking for fault in a good thing.

He insisted she couldn't commit to a relationship if she wore another man's key around her neck.

She insisted he couldn't commit to a relationship if he tried.

The thing about two perfectionists is that they cease to be such in the throes of passion. Auggie was a stickler for clutter, unless that clutter was clothing they'd hastily removed on the way to the bed. Annie was a disciplined fighter, unless the person on the other end of the boxing gloves couldn't afford to be sore later tonight.

It was all about passion. When the big things were discussed, the passion led to fire. Slamming doors. Raised voices. Squealing tires. It was equal parts out of character and painfully predictable. It was equal parts the scariest and the safest way to do it.

She loved him. She loved him more than anything. She missed him. She wanted him back. He was made of fire. She wanted him anyway.

When he'd kissed her that night after Jai's declassification ceremony, it felt right.

She wanted to feel right again.

So that night, she gave him a call.

She told him that she loved him.

She told him that she missed him.

She told the answering machine to delete her message; she wasn't satisfied with it.

He heard it anyway, in real time.

He sat on his bed and thought it over.

He knew that one step forward didn't count if your next move was two steps back.

He didn't care.

When their lips crashed together again, three months after they'd done so for the first time, it was a plea for forever.

She took the plea.


	29. Count to Ten

_Request: Auggie's blind friends_

* * *

Once a year, when he could make it, Auggie met his friend Dale in Delaware for a beer. They'd met during rehabilitation, both of them going through the same thing at the same time. While Auggie had gone on to Tech Ops and the DPD, Dale had moved to Delaware, gotten married and had a daughter. They were both busy, but they tried to set aside one day a year to catch up.

Auggie arrived early, and the waitress seated him at a table instead of the bar. He was secretly sort of grateful; the bar stool setup was no fun. Shortly after, he heard Dale talking to the hostess.

"I'm looking for the only other blind guy in this place," he said.

The waitress seated him across from Auggie. As soon as she was gone, Dale turned to him with a laugh in his voice. "I'm really hoping this restaurant only has one other blind guy."

"How's it going, man?" Auggie laughed.

"Well, I have a kid, so I'm not really sleeping ever. How the hell are you?"

"Can't complain. How's the kid?"

"Damn cute," Dale chuckled. "Or, so I'm told."

"Got any photos?"

"Not on my person, not that it matters."

The waitress stopped and put down coasters. "Hi, my name is Daphne, I'll be taking care of you this afternoon."

"Nice to meet you, Daphne," Dale said with an audibly agitating grin. Auggie had never met anyone so irritating in restaurants as Dale. He always called waiters and waitresses by their first names, for one thing. He'd once ordered "a round of waters." He lived to irritate, and he and Auggie both knew no waitress would ever call out or embarrass the blind guy, so he continued to get away with it.

Both men ordered, and Daphne uttered the usual "coming right up." Auggie thought Dale might be done, until-

"Hey, Daphne?"

Her shoe squeaked as she turned. "Yeah?"

"Could you do me a favor?"

"Anything," Daphne said, just a little too brightly.

"Could you count to ten for me?"

Auggie uttered an involuntary groan of embarrassment. The count-to-ten was a classic adaptive trick for meeting new people when you needed to match their voice to their name on a regular basis. It was good for things like new employees, or meeting friends of friends. Doing it with a waitress wasn't unheard of... But it wasn't necessary. Not in this instance. This was Dale being an asshole.

Daphne was flustered, but nice about it.

When she reached ten, Dale didn't miss a beat. "Thanks so much, and your phone number?"

Daphne choked on her surprise. "Um, sorry, what?"

"Not for me," Dale tapped his left hand on the table so his wedding ring was audible. "It's for my friend here."

Auggie managed a smile.

"Daphne, this is Auggie," Dale continued. "He lives in Virginia, so don't forget to include the area code."

"You don't have to-" Auggie began, but she was already rattling off all ten digits.

"Thank you so much, Daph," Dale said when she was finished. "Auggie will call you."

She walked back to the kitchen and Dale immediately burst into laughter.

"If I could find you I would punch you right in the face," Auggie said.

Dale leaned back and grinned. "You don't hang out with enough blind people."

* * *

_Author's Note: This is loosely based on an experience from when I was a waitress. The count-to-ten is completely legitimate. Tragically no one ever asked for my phone number._


	30. Training Wheels

_Requested: Auggie and Billy, father-son bonding time_

* * *

Annie was on a "business trip," and her boys were on their own for the weekend. Auggie ducked out of work early to meet Billy at the bus stop.

As soon as the doors opened, Billy was running to greet his dad with a hug.

"What are you doing here?" Billy cheered.

"Thought I'd pick you up," Auggie chuckled, putting a hand on his son's backpack as they walked the two blocks home. "Mom's not going to be home till Sunday."

"Where is she this time?" Billy asked eagerly, then straightened up and whispered, "Or is it classified?"

Auggie and Annie had been very up-front about what they did with Billy. Basically, anyone could know that his mommy and daddy worked for a big museum in DC. But they had also told Billy how secrets worked. Secrets were things that stayed between Mommy and Daddy and Billy. The 3 Musketeers. Billy was a winning combination- honest to a fault, but private. He relished his parents' secrets, and often trusted them with information in return. Auggie knew they were extremely lucky to have him, and he sincerely hoped this would last.

"So how was your day?" Auggie changed the subject with enthusiasm. "First grade still your favorite thing?"

"I don't know," Billy said, his shoulders drooping slightly. "Today Sean L. made fun of me for not being able to ride a two-wheeler."

Auggie frowned. "You're still using training wheels?"

"I like them," Billy said resolutely. "They reduce the risk."

"The risk of what?" Auggie laughed in spite of himself.

"Falling," Billy said sensitively.

"Listen, buddy, if you want people like Sean L. to stop making fun, the training wheels are going to have to come off. I mean, you are almost seven."

"Can you ride a bike without training wheels?" Billy asked like he'd just thought of it. Billy was getting to an age where he realized his dad was different. It didn't freak him out and it didn't seem to embarrass him, but Auggie noticed that he asked questions like this more than he used to.

"I can ride the bike," Auggie said. "I just can't see where it's going."

"How old were you when you took the training wheels off?"

Auggie thought back. "Well, let's see. Every time your Uncle Eric got a new bike, everyone would hand theirs down. So I don't think I ever had training wheels."

"You never had training wheels?!" Billy exclaimed with horror. "Didn't you fall?"

"Everyone falls," Auggie said. He tried not to laugh at Billy; he didn't want to seem mocking. But he had fallen off much bigger things than a bike for kids age 4-8. "But it turned out to be easier because I didn't know any different."

Billy was quiet for the rest of the walk home. Auggie sensed some inner turmoil going on. For Annie and Auggie, these things just happened. They were youngest children; they didn't choose the bike, the bike was thrust upon them. Billy was an only child. He partook in conversations with the grown-ups. He didn't have anyone at home pushing him down the stairs in a laundry basket or making fun of him when he was too scared to watch _The Shining. _His mockery was coming from outside sources, strangers. Auggie didn't love that. He had the tar beaten out of him, but it had been brothers who'd done it. Billy was a bright, sensitive kid who wasn't being pushed, even in the way that built character. Auggie wondered if he should enroll him in a sport.

After they had pizza and watched a movie that night, Billy went to bed and Auggie went out to the garage.

He knew that what he was about to do might be seen as stupid, but it felt important. It might be the most important thing he'd attempted in a long time.

The garage was kept as impeccably clean as the house, the walls lined with shelves and alphabetical boxes. There was a smooth workbench at one end, and a few cabinets with tools. Annie's car was parked at Langley, so he decided there was no time like the present.

He did a sweep of the garage with his cane to make sure there wouldn't be any obstructions, lay Billy's bike out on its side and grabbed a wrench. He worked meticulously to ensure he wasn't loosening anything but the wheels. He ran his hands over the whole bike a time or two just in case. The last thing he needed was a scared little boy with no training wheels and no brakes, hurtling around the cul de sac.

Once the wheels were gone, he walked the bike around a few times in circles. He tested the pedal brakes with his foot. The tire pressure felt all right. Auggie knew he was being overly careful, but if he was going to do this with Annie's only child and without Annie, there was no margin for error.

For the finishing touch, he (carefully) dug around in the junk drawer in the kitchen, the only place in the house that Annie's messiness could really run free. Past the errant hair ties, binder clips and pen caps, he located a little string of jingle bells. When Billy was small and fast, these jingle bells had been a life saver. Now that Billy was chatty and not quite so light of foot, they didn't use them quite as often (though if Billy had a guest, Annie would very courteously pin them onto both their son and his friend). Auggie wound them tightly around the strap of Billy's helmet.

Auggie made waffles the next morning, and Billy helped him with the dishes.

"I have a surprise for you," Auggie said casually as they put the waffle iron in the cupboard.

"Yeah?" Billy asked.

Auggie took his hand and they walked together out to the garage. Auggie flipped on the light to reveal the bike where he left it last night, resting against a sawhorse in the middle of the room, the helmet dangling from one of the handlebars.

"I'm gonna teach you how to ride a bike with no training wheels."

Billy's breath caught. "Are you sure I'm ready?"

Auggie set a hand on his son's shoulder and took a knee so they were at eye level. "Who are you?" he asked in what Annie called 'Daddy's Work Voice.'

"I'm William Walker Anderson," Billy said reflexively, lisping slightly through the gap of a missing tooth.

"Do you know where you got that name?" Auggie continued.

"No, sir."

"You were named for some very brave people who love you very much," Auggie said, softer now. "And as long as you're William Walker Anderson, you're braver than anything that might scare you."

"What if I fall?" he asked softly.

"I'll help you up and we'll try again," Auggie said. "Come on, let's get your helmet."

Billy put on his helmet and together they walked the bike to the park at the end of the street. There was a grassy field at the very edge that was usually pretty empty. Auggie made a sweep with his cane for rocks, etc. and returned to Billy.

"Okay. I'm going to hang onto you and run with you for a little bit and then I'm going to let you go so you ride on your own, okay?"

Billy nodded, the bells jingling. "Okay."

Auggie collapsed his cane and tucked it under his arm, and did just what he promised Billy. The first time, Billy zig-zagged a couple times and landed in the soft grass. By the fourth time, he was riding like a pro.

Billy Anderson was the king of the world. Sean L. could suck it.


	31. Truth and Consequences

Auggie and Annie were finally in some semblance of a rhythm. They had a reliable nanny, Auggie had figured out how to finagle a pay raise while maintaining the job he loved, and Annie was back out in the field without having to worry about things like diapers. Billy was excelling in school, playing soccer and t-ball on the weekends, and proving to be shockingly well-adjusted. The Andersons had it all.

Until one night, when Annie came home from Morocco and puked her guts out.

Typically, when Annie came home from a mission in the middle of the night, she took a shower, checked on Billy, sidled into bed next to her husband and slept for a day straight. On this evening, she raced upstairs and wrecked the master bathroom.

"You okay in there?" Auggie asked with a gentle knock.

"Fine," she said, gargling some mouthwash and splashing cool water on her face. In truth, she wasn't fine. She knew what was going on and she was in complete and total denial.

She opened the door and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"You think this is some sort of bug?" Auggie asked, keeping a safe distance from both her and the bed.

"Uh... in a way..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know how we decided after Billy was born that I should take the pill because we didn't want to risk another broken condom?"

Auggie's jaw clenched. Annie soldiered on.

"Because one little miracle was enough?"

Auggie's face remained inscrutable.

"Well, it turns out I am _really_ bad at remembering to take the pill."

Auggie blinked a couple of times. "You're really bad at remembering to take the pill," he said tonelessly.

"As it turns out, traveling the world means your days begin and end at all sorts of dangerously inconsistent times..."

"So your dangerously inconsistent work schedule got you pregnant."

Annie's voice took on a sharp, pitchy tone native to marriages lasting a decade or more. "Well, August, if you want to get technical, _you_ got me pregnant. But my dangerously inconsistent work schedule stood idly by and watched it happen."

Auggie sat down on the bed and ran his hands through his hair. "Why couldn't you just have the flu?"

"Excuse you?" Annie snapped. "Why couldn't you just get a va-"

"Don't."

"Well..."

"Annie, do you have any concept of how _old_ we are?" Auggie asked. "We're not exactly young parents as it is, and we have a seven year old son. This could be dangerous. Not to mention completely unbelievably impractical. We just got rid of all the baby stuff. Like, I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer here, but that was kind of a chapter I was glad to be done with."

"I know, I know, this baby thing is not easy for you. But we have _good_ help now. And you know Billy is a major asset, especially for the really hard stuff. On the other hand, we're both healthy. And we're careful. I'll take some time off if it makes you feel better."

Auggie sighed a deep, weight-of-the-world sigh and lay down on the bed. Annie watched him process the news. She'd been holding this news in since before she left for Morocco. She was almost four months along. This wasn't how she wanted him to find out but it would work.

After a minute, he spoke.

"What if it's a girl?"

Annie felt a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"No, really, Annie, what if it's a girl?"

"However will you manage?" she teased.

"I guess we have a couple months to figure it out, don't we?"

She lay down on her side of the bed and he pulled her close. She giggled as he wrapped her up in his arms. "Annie Walker, you're having my baby. Again." He kissed her passionately, but pulled away suddenly.

"What is it?" she asked nervously.

He made a face. "Could you brush your teeth?"


	32. Dancing in the Shower

Annie and Auggie sat on one side of the dining room table, Billy sat on the other.

"Am I in trouble?" he asked. He looked so small and professional in that big wooden chair, Annie almost wanted to get her camera.

"You're not in trouble," Auggie said smoothly. He sat tall and erect, hands folded in front of him.

"This feels like an interrogation," Billy said seriously.

Both Auggie and Annie were still in their work clothes. It was stormy outside and the dining room light fixture cast an odd light about the room. Annie could understand why Billy would see this as an ominous situation.

"Sweetie, it isn't an interrogation," Annie said, a little softer. "Daddy and I just want to have a little chat."

"Okay." His big brown eyes darted from his mother to his father and back again. He gave Annie an expectant eyebrow raise.

"Right, um... Dad, you wanna take this one?" Annie asked. The bummer of a blind husband and a sighted son was the fact that she couldn't shoot him a look without Billy catching it. And Billy caught everything. He'd make a hell of an op if she and Auggie ever let him. Which they wouldn't. Ever.

"Bill, buddy, your mom and I have some big news for you."

"Are we moving?" it was out of Billy's mouth before Auggie even finished the word "news."

"We're not moving," Auggie countered just as quickly. "And we're not getting a dog."

"Aww," Billy deflated. He'd been begging for a dog for as long as Annie could remember. Auggie said no on the grounds that dogs were messy. Billy suggested Auggie get a service dog. Auggie argued that service dogs in the blind community reduced social interaction and gave their owners a sense of unapproachability. It was a cyclical argument. It didn't stop Billy from being completely obsessed with dogs, particularly in his artwork at school, which Annie was always tasked with describing to her husband thus rehashing the argument.

"You remember when Mommy explained that Aunt Dani is her big sister?" Auggie asked.

"...Yeah..."

"And we talked about my big brothers?" Auggie continued.

"...Yeah..."

"Well, pretty soon, you're going to be a big brother, too!" Annie tried to sound excited and overshot it by quite a bit. She was pretty sure she just sounded crazy.

"Wow," Billy's eyes were huge. "So you guys _did it." _

In that moment, sighted or not, Annie was 100% sure she and Auggie exchanged an entirely mutual look of panic, of the "holy shit" variety.

"W-what?" Annie stammered.

"I was talking to Nora on the playground and she said her little sisters came from her mom's tummy because her mom and dad 'did it' while they were on vacation in Virginia Beach two whole summers in a row."

"And what is 'it'?" Auggie was trying very hard not to laugh, maybe nervously.

"She said it had to do with dancing in the shower."

"Oh my gosh..." Annie covered her face with her hands.

"Did you guys do that?" Billy asked seriously, as if this were an intervention.

"The, um, point is that Mommy is going to have a baby," Auggie sputtered.

"But you know, we're still gonna love you the same and, um..." Annie searched for the rest of the rehearsed speech, which now lay all over the room in a billion figurative pieces. "You won't have to share a room? And...?"

"Do you want a puppy?" Auggie blurted.

"What?" Billy's brown eyes widened to epic proportions. "A _puppy?!" _

"Why don't you go play?" Annie shooed him. He took off up the stairs to his room. She turned to Auggie and slapped him on the arm. "A baby and a puppy? Are you shitting me, Anderson?"

He grimaced. "You in the mood for a shower?"


	33. They Say It's Your Birthday

_Requested: Birthdays_

* * *

"Happy birthday to you..." Auggie's morning breath tickled Annie's ear, his voice barely a whisper. "Happy birthday to you."

"No," Annie groaned, flipping over onto her stomach.

"Happy birthday dear Annie, haaaaaaaaaaaa-ppy birthday to you."

"What time is it?" Annie whimpered.

"Bright and early."

"How do you know it's bright?"

"Don't split hairs, dear, it's unbecoming. And it's your _birthday!"_

"We're not celebrating my birthday. We discussed this."

"Come on, what is this, the big two-nine?"

Annie scoffed. "Yeah, when you met me."

"You're not feeling old, are you?" Auggie teased. "Because if you're old then I'm..."

"Handsome. Go back to sleep."

"While we're on the subject, you'd tell me if I was graying, right?"

"I'm about to tell you all sorts of things if you don't let me go back to sleep."

"Is that a yes?"

"My gosh, Anderson, don't you come with a snooze button?"

Auggie snuggled back against the pillows and into Annie's side. "Fine, fine, fine. But you look great."

Annie smiled in spite of herself. "Shut up."


	34. A Very Glencoe Christmas Part 1

_The Glencoe Andersons are back, this time for Christmas! Please let me know what you think, or what you want to see in the next chapter._

* * *

"Are you sure you wanna do this?"

"Sure," Annie threw Billy's snow boots in a plastic bag and packed them into one of the big suitcases. "It's Christmas, I'm seven and a half months pregnant, our seven year old is getting over a runny nose, your mother disagrees with my decision to deliver with an epidural and there is a sleeper cell in Jordan I'm too pregnant to infiltrate. Let's roll!"

"Annie, don't be passive-aggressive, that's my thing."

Annie cracked a smile in spite of herself.

"Babe, if you don't wanna go to Glencoe, we don't have to go to Glencoe."

Annie sighed, raking her hands through her hair. "We already bought the tickets."

"If you don't want to go to Glencoe," Auggie sat down on the bed next to her. "Don't go to Glencoe."

"I want to go to Glencoe."

Auggie's mouth turned up at the corner. "No, you want to want to go."

"I figure the excitement will hit me while we're flying over Indiana."

"I don't think we are flying over Indiana."

"Whatever. The point is, I'm in."

"Well in that case, slap some bacon on a biscuit. We're burning daylight."

...

Auggie loved being home. That was partially why he never went. Something about coming back to his parents' house, being surrounded by people who loved him, was so special and natural that he decided long ago to save it for special occasions. If he came home more often, he'd only find it harder and harder to leave.

It had been three years since he'd been to Illinois last. Eight years since he got down on one knee on his parents' balcony and asked Annie to marry him. Five years since he flew out to attend his dad's funeral and Dani had to come from California to take care of Billy, because Annie was stuck working in Kuala Lumpur.

Even the smell of the place hit him with nostalgia. The whole place was blanketed with snow, but Auggie swore it smelled different from the snow in DC. This snow smelled like snowball fights and forts and walking to school that time the bus broke down.

The inside of the house was a veritable treasure trove of memories. He knew his mother hated being alone, that she wouldn't have kept the house after his dad died if not for the assurance that it would still be constantly filled with people. His brother Rob and his wife lived maybe two miles away, and he'd brought his sons into his construction business, too. His eldest brother Eric and middle brother Gabe both lived in Chicago now, and their other brother Pete came with his kids for all minor holidays. Auggie refused to let their constant presence make him feel like a deadbeat, though sometimes it wasn't enough just to refuse.

"August! Annie!" Virginia Anderson opened the door slowly, and then threw it open when she saw the kid. "Billy!"

"Look who's here!" came a sing-song voice from behind his mother. It was, unmistakably, his third brother Pete.

"If it isn't The Kid," Rob chimed in.

Rob wrapped him in a tight hug first, smelling of Stetson and Pert. He was almost the same height as Auggie, while Pete was a few inches taller. Pete was a closet smoker, always chewing gum and smoking against the wind to hide the paradox of being a nicotine-addicted physician. These days, Auggie could hear it in his breathing as he pulled him close.

"Annie Walker," Rob deadpanned, approaching Auggie's wife for a hug. "You're as big as a house and twice as pretty."

"What is it with the Anderson men and my baby weight?" Annie's eyeroll was audible. "You're looking pretty gray, old man."

"Watch it," Rob's wife Marley joined the conversation. "That's my old man you're talking about."

From what he could gather, everyone else was in the kitchen, and Gabe offered to run their bags upstairs. Within moments, it was just Auggie and his mom. She put one hand on his arm and brought him in for a hug.

"Hey, Mom."

"All right, let me get a look at you," she placed one hand on either arm and gave him what he presumed to be the once-over. Virginia was fit, strong for her age and tougher than she seemed. She spent the bulk of her youth cutting the bullshit of five highly intelligent and rebellious boys, but she worried about Auggie and he worried about her.

"Wish I could return the sentiment," he joked, earning him a smack. "Hey, come on."

"Everything all right with you and Annie?" she asked candidly.

"Of course."

"Just checking. And the pregnancy?"

"Going great."

"Don't lie to me."

"I would never," he said. It soured in his mouth. Wanting something to be true didn't always make it so.

"Good," her smile was soft and audible. "Let's go get you something to eat. You're looking thin."


	35. A Very Glencoe Christmas Part 2

Auggie and his brothers sat in the kitchen, sipping spiked cider. Pete was on his left, Gabe on his right, Rob directly across and Eric kitty-corner. It was always weird having Eric around. If he didn't wear so much cologne, he was so quiet that Auggie might miss him entirely.

"Well, the gang's all here," Rob said, setting his glass down on the table.

"How's it feel to be home for Christmas?" Gabe slapped Auggie on the back.

"Cold," Auggie mused.

"Yeah, well, it's been awhile."

"I usually can't get the time off," Auggie explained for the thousandth time. "Or Annie can't."

"You're preaching to the choir," Pete interjected. "I've been paged for surgery in the middle of Christmas dinner so many times that my kids think I'm Santa."

"I actually have to work tomorrow," Gabe said. "I don't think my team is ready for court and one of our witnesses is waffling."

"You know, when I started my business, I offered you all jobs," Rob reminded them. "Work with your hands, I said. Build something you can be proud of, I said. But you chose your law school and your medical school and your PhD and your computers..."

"Wake up at three am every day, you said," Gabe laughed. "Die of skin cancer, you said."

"I never said none of that shit," Rob said, taking a sip. "I wanted you to work for me."

"Please. You saw all of our work in shop class," Auggie chuckled. "Gabe couldn't build a birdhouse, much less a real one."

"Oh!" Gabe scoffed. "Says the guy who built- I'm sorry, what was your final project?"

"I don't know, Gabe, why don't you go in the pantry and check?" Auggie teased.

"It's a flat piece of wood."

"It's a cutting board!" Auggie said defensively. "And a damn fine one."

"Yeah, Mom's chopped tons of shit on it," Pete said.

Auggie frowned. "Helping or hurting, Peter? Helping or hurting?"

There was a long moment of silence in which Rob refilled everyone's glasses and they just soaked up the atmosphere- Bing on the radio, the kids squawking upstairs, the wives chitchatting by the fireplace.

"When was the last time we were all together?" Pete mused finally.

"Dad's funeral," the words fell from Eric's mouth like stones.

Rob sighed. Gabe sniffed. Pete cleared his throat.

"Weird being in this house without the old man," Auggie said finally.

His brothers' silence told him that it was a weirdness based on proximity. He felt a pang of guilt for being so far away.

"That old bastard hated Christmas," Rob interrupted.

He was met with stunned silence.

"Come on," Rob said. Auggie could hear an unabashed smile on his brother's face. "He had all the cousins on a schedule to open presents. He hated Christmas movies. He once called Santa the biggest scam in American history. Don't let the fact that he's dead sugarcoat the fact that he hated the most wonderful time of the year, boys."

Auggie felt a smile creep across his lips as he remembered those regimented childhood holidays. His mother loved Christmas. That was one of the things that made them good together. Opposites.

"I think it just made us like Christmas more," Eric said with a chuckle.

"In a way, Dad hating Christmas fostered a serious childlike wonder," Gabe mused.

Auggie raised his glass. "To Dad. Merry fuckin' Christmas."

The brothers clinked glasses. "Merry fuckin' Christmas."


	36. A Very Glencoe Christmas Part 3

Annie crawled into bed beside Auggie around midnight. Her feet ached. She'd been dragged all over Illinois by her sisters in law, in search of a thousand perfect presents. There were so many guests this year that the Anderson adults had opted to draw straws. Annie had drawn Pete, and Gabe's wife had drawn Auggie. The afternoon was spent desperately trying to find something the brothers Anderson didn't already own.

As soon as Annie hit the sheets, Auggie wrapped himself around her. Annie liked that he always did that. Every night they'd shared a bed had been spent in his arms and Annie was grateful. The world needed more beds like theirs. She considered her pregnant figure in comparison to his. This pregnancy had her bloated and softer around the edges than she'd ever been. But Auggie was consistent. He was still sporting the rock hard abs, though his obliques weren't as solid as they'd been in his thirties. He still ran and boxed and lifted weights. It wasn't fair, Annie felt, that they weren't evenly matched anymore. Not that she would ever say so aloud.

"Where've you been hiding?" He mumbled in a thick, sleepy and possibly drunk voice.

"Everywhere and nowhere," Annie sighed.

"For all I know you were three feet in front of me the entire time," Auggie joked. "How's the peanut?"

"Violent," Annie said. "I think we conceived a kangaroo."

"Doesn't sound like us," Auggie dead panned, more awake now. "How's the puking?"

"About the same."

Auggie was full of questions. A part of Annie was grateful that he wasn't one of those men who came and went, pardon the pun, but sometimes his involvement only served to make her more nervous. Her age made the pregnancy riskier than when she had Billy. She was worried enough without someone else keeping tabs on how often she threw up.

It didn't help that she'd miscarried once, not long after she had Billy, before she even knew she was pregnant. That had taken its toll on both she and Auggie, particularly since it was right around the time he lost his father. It led to a discussion that culminated in the decision to go on the pill and accept their only son as a gift. Then Annie forgot to take the pill and it all went off book.

This pregnancy was healthy so far, and of course they would never share anything but good news with the family, but the weight of the past and pending loomed over them, threatening their security with each passing trimester.


	37. A Very Glencoe Christmas Part 4

Annie was midway through helping her nieces with the cousins' gift for Grandma when she felt it. Though the baby had been shifting and kicking like a heavyweight champion in those past few weeks, this stirring felt different. It was a sensation she'd experienced before- not when she'd miscarried, but when she'd had Billy.

She did her best to keep her cool, politely excusing herself under the guise of needing to get something from the other room, and set off in search of Marley. Marley would know what to do, Annie reasoned. She'd been a mother for twenty five years.

Marley was in the kitchen, cleaning up the breakfast dishes.

"I think I'm having contractions," Annie blurted.

Marley's face fell. "How far along are you?"

"Um... 7 1/2 months? 30 weeks?" Annie was having a hard time adding it up. She found herself doubled over again, breathless.

Marley helped her straighten up. "Okay, try to breathe. You're in the window where a lot of women start to have false labor. It's probably just Braxton Hicks contractions but I'll take you to the hospital just to be safe, all right?"

Annie nodded as her muscles relaxed once more. She donned her coat and scarf, and Marley did the same.

"Annie and I are going to make a Target run," Marley called out at the door. "Anyone want anything?"

"We're out of Coke," Pete called back from upstairs.

"Can I come?" Stephanie, Marley's youngest asked through a mouthful of freshly applied orthodontic braces.

"Not this time, sweetie," Marley smoothed Stephanie's hair. "We'll be back in a bit!"

Marley was a remarkably calm driver. She navigated the snowy streets with ease. "I had Braxton Hicks contractions when I was pregnant with Josh," she explained as they merged onto the highway. "They hurt like hell, but there's really nothing-"

"Um, Marley?" Annie tried to process the events of the previous moment. "...Don't be mad, but I think I just ruined your car seat."

It was only when Marley looked over at the mess on her passenger seat that the car swerved. "Tell me you just peed your pants."

Annie shook her head. Marley stepped on the gas.

"Hold on tight."

...

Auggie was playing with Billy and the boys when Rob pulled him aside and told him about Annie. All the air left the room and the floor fell out from under him and everything went still for a moment. Rob offered to drive him to the hospital. Auggie dazedly agreed. The whole way there, Rob was trying to talk him down. He went on about how Auggie's kid would be born in the same hospital he was, and how Marley had all of their kids there, too. The doctors were great, the care was fantastic, this was probably all no big deal.

Except it was a big deal. All the time they spent trying to keep mother and baby safe didn't matter anymore. It was all out of their hands- it had always been out of their hands but now there was really nothing to be done. No supplements or yoga moves or special diet could save them now. This baby was coming, and now both mother and child were in danger, and Auggie was powerless.

He flashed back to when Annie was in a coma, after she'd been shot, long before they were married. It turned his stomach. Not having visual memories meant that you had tactical ones. He remembered that period of time in his gut and in his heart and fingertips. He was afraid he might faint in the passenger seat of his brother's truck.

They arrived at the hospital, where a nurse took him to Annie's room, and made him wear a mask and stuff. Marley hugged him, her own protective gear crinkling against his. She left her perfume on him and he felt strangely comforted. She put Annie's hand in his and everyone urged Annie to push. Annie asked that Marley stay in the room, and Marley agreed. They all stayed there for what felt like forever. It was painful. Listening to Annie cry out, feeling her crush his hand in her own, knowing this could all result in nothing. It was just painful.

Finally, finally, finally, she delivered. There was the smallest cry he'd ever heard, followed by a rush to get the baby clean and in an incubator. The attention turned to Annie, getting her stable and into recovery.

Before the doctor escorted him and Marley out of the room, Auggie heard Annie ask.

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

It was a boy.


	38. A Very Glencoe Christmas Part 5

Auggie had no idea how long they were in that waiting room. He'd forgotten his watch at the house, and his jaw was clenched so tight that he couldn't get a word out anyway. Marley and Rob stayed with him for a long time, and then Marley went home, and Gabe stopped by, and he and Rob tried to make things feel normal. They talked about sports. They didn't ask Auggie any direct questions. It was better than silence. At some point, Auggie must have fallen asleep on the hospital chairs, because Rob accidentally woke him coming back from the hospital cafeteria. He pressed a cup of terrible coffee into Auggie's hand and the two of them drank in silence.

After what felt like days, and honestly could have been, a doctor emerged.

He said some medical stuff, blurry details that Rob understood and Auggie couldn't seem to absorb.

All Auggie heard was that Annie was stable, and it was going to be a long road, but Auggie could see her now, in a manner of speaking.

...

Annie lay in her hospital bed, staring out the window, remembering that she hadn't wanted to come to Illinois in the first place.

The door opened, and a nurse entered with Auggie on her arm. As soon as Annie saw him, she burst into tears. He'd developed a nice five o'clock shadow, still in the same rumpled sweater and jeans he'd worn in the delivery room. His hair was mussed. As soon as he was close enough, she all but grabbed him.

"Hey," he said quietly, stroking her cheek. His breath wasn't great.

"Hey," she choked back. Hers wasn't either.

"Are you all right?" he asked, kissing her first on the lips and then on the cheek.

"I'm all right," she said, even though she knew the events of the past 24 hours had wreaked havoc on her body.

He saved his worst question for last. "How's the baby?"

She pressed her lips together, willing the tears to stop and her voice to stabilize. "He still doesn't have a name," she managed. That was all she knew.

A doctor knocked on the door and entered. She pulled Auggie close so he could take a seat on the bed.

"Mr. and Mrs. Anderson," the doctor gave them each a nod. "Congratulations on the new arrival."

Annie really hated how he did that. As if anything about the past day had been even remotely okay. She hadn't even gotten to hold her child. She didn't know if he would live through another night. Congratulations were for happy things.

"Is he okay?" Auggie asked.

The doctor looked down at a chart. "Well, I have some good news and some bad news." Annie felt faint. Auggie's grip on her hand tightened.

"What's the bad news?" Auggie snapped.

"What's the good news?" Annie countered.

"The good news is, in spite of the early delivery and high risk of prematurity, your son has a shot at being very physically healthy. We have him in an incubator, where we recommend keeping him until your original due date, but he's very stable."

"What's the bad news?" Auggie repeated.

"Well, Mr. Anderson, I suppose the bad news is a bit... subjective."

"What does that mean?"

"While your son's lungs and heart have a strong chance of developing normally, we estimate there's a 98% chance that, unless things radically change..."

"What?"

"Mr. Anderson, your son is blind."


	39. The End

_Hey guys,_

_So this is going to be the last chapter of So We're Besties. It's been amazing writing this for you and your comments and feedback are really what kept it going. I just feel like now that I've added so many AU relatives to the Anderson clan, this story has ceased to just be about Annie and Auggie and their romance. That said, I'm going to write a spinoff! It'll be called 'Growing Up Anderson' and it's going to be a separate story altogether, with AU one-shots starting from where So We're Besties left off. I hope you enjoy it and please, please read and review! In the meantime, here you are. The grand finale. Enjoy._

_Love,_

_Pseudonymitous_

* * *

Annie and Auggie sat in their room in the NICU, observing the incubator which contained their new baby son. Annie wasn't cleared to get out of bed, and Auggie wasn't about to leave her. She scooted over so the twin bed sort of accommodated both of them.

"This is all so weird," she said after a long bout of silence. They'd barely spoken since the doctor gave them life-changing news, and they'd yet to discuss the news itself.

"Which part?" Auggie asked tonelessly.

"With Billy I could just hold him and hand him off to you and we both got to know him, you know? With this one... I mean, he doesn't even have a name yet. We have no idea who he is."

Auggie gave a quarter of a nod, though Annie couldn't tell if it was a nod of recognition or agreement. "What's he look like?"

Annie gave him a look. She knew that 99% of the time, describing things to Auggie helped him as much as a kick in the jeans. "How do you mean?"

He held out his hands. "Okay, how big?"

She gingerly adjusted the space between his hands to match the length of the baby. "And I don't remember how many pounds they said. He's pretty little though. They have him all hooked up to stuff. It's pretty awful."

"That stuff is what's going to save his life," Auggie reminded her.

"It doesn't make it any fun to look at."

"Are you scared?" he asked seriously.

"Yes," she said honestly.

"About him being blind?" Auggie asked, very seriously but reserving judgment.

"About him being small, and premature and sick," Annie said. "A part of me feels like this is all my worst fears come true."

Auggie's hand found hers atop the blanket and held it gently. She wasn't sure, but she thought he might be biting back tears.

"I love you," she said seriously.

"I love you too," he said back.

"What are you thinking?" she asked gently.

"I'm thinking that sometimes when you think things are going to be terrifying, the fear is worse than the reality. I mean, this is terrifying, but now that we're looking right at it, the only way to do it is to do it." He sighed in the direction of the incubator. "When I lost my sight, I had no idea how I was going to adjust to life being so different. But this kid, our son, isn't ever going to have to adjust. He gets to learn all this stuff right out of the gate. And we are, like, the best-prepared parents in the world for this. We aren't giving ourselves enough credit."

"We have to name him first," Annie reminded her husband. She felt herself getting happy as she watched true excitement on her husband's face for the first time in what felt like forever.

"How about Daniel? After your sister?" Auggie asked. "I got Billy, so how about you get this one?"

"No, that'll get too confusing," Annie said. "How about Robert, after your brother? He and Marley played a huge role in this kid's birth."

"Maybe as a middle name," Auggie said. "I just don't... I don't know. I don't think this one is a Robert."

They sat in silence for a long, long, long time before Auggie spoke again.

"What about Evan?"

"Evan?"

"This one just feels like an Evan to me."

Annie looked at the tiny sleeping figure in the box and laughed in spite of herself. He totally looked like a little Evan.

"I love it," she said, kissing Auggie. "Evan Robert?"

"So that's it?" he asked. "Auggie, Annie, Billy and Evan?"

"Sounds perfect," Annie replied, resting her head on her husband's shoulder and relaxing for the first time in months.

"Perfect."


End file.
